How to Practice Patience to be Successful

We can learn invaluable life lessons from a tree. His life begins from something as small as a seed. After a few months, it sprouts to a little sapling. This little sapling then grows into a small plant which over the course of a few months stands tall as a long tree.

By looking at the life history of a tree, can you realize a virtue or a quality that helps it to grow into a tall selfless tree? Patience.

We can learn a lot of life lessons from nature. From trees, we can learn how rewarding and fulfilling patience can be in our journey of life.

Fulton J. Sheen once said, “Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is ‘timing’, it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles, and in the right way.”

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Why Patience is Important?

There is a proverb that goes something like this, “All good things come to those who wait.”

There’s another one which says, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Wait. I’ve got one more for you, “Life is a marathon not a sprint.” There are hundreds of quotations quoted by great thinkers and philosophers that emphasize on the importance of patience and why it must be developed to lead a fulfilling and super-productive life.

Let me tell you why it is really that important.

There are so many people who are working tirelessly to make their dreams happen. Just imagine if all of them stop putting the hard work just because it is taking a bit longer than expected. Do you know why not everyone succeed in life? That’s because we quit just before it is about to happen. Only if we could develop a little patience and learn to hold onto things for a longer time, we would relish success and victory.

Remember to believe in yourself and be a little patient. Know that there is something inside you that is GREATER than any obstacle.

Take One Step at a Time

Most of us see patience as a divine quality that not many of us possess. In reality, patience is just like any other skill that can be learned and developed with hard work if practiced consistently. Just like a plant takes time and patience to grow into a big tree, likewise if you are eyeing at some big and audacious goals, you need to persevere and be a little patient with yourself and the things happening in your life.

To get through the hardest journey, we need to take only one step at a time but we must keep on stepping.

Have you ever given it a thought that why do we get impatient at the first place? What are the reasons that make us grumpy, dissatisfied, irritated, or displeased? That’s because we tend to overthink a lot.

Oftentimes, when we listen to a news how good someone is doing in his personal or professional life makes us impatient. Instead of being happy for them, our mind starts pitting us against them. We start having thoughts like Why haven’t I got a promotion yet? What is she doing that I am not? Am I really that incompetent?

In return, these thoughts make us feel inadequate about ourselves and that can be self-destructive if they interfere with our patience levels. These thoughts can sabotage our competence and confidence — two key drivers that make us operate at higher levels.

To curb your monkey mind by you can:

• Establish a journaling practice: Write down your thoughts on what’s taking you long to achieve your dreams. Be hundred percent honest while doing so, it would help you get clarity that would give you a clear understanding and calm down your impatience.
• Meditate: Buddha once said that meditation is the primary way to tame your mind. I couldn’t agree more as it has helped me a lot to focus on things that matter and learn how to be a happy human being altogether.
• Play a game of fives: This one is a pretty interesting exercise that help your mind from squandering. All you have to do is to notice five things in your vicinity and start thinking about it. Immerse yourself fully in the moment and look for the ways to be grateful about them.

How to Practice Patience

Needless to say that patience is one of the hardest virtues to develop as it requires a great deal of hardwork and self-control. In today’s fast world where things and food is ordered online and is delivered within a few minutes or days, patience has taken a backseat in our lives.

In order to know how to become successful, we must learn how to practice patience first. Here are some of the ways by which you can learn to be patient.

1. Have Patience to be Patient

It is not easy to learn or develop patience, so you need to be patient with yourself. It would require a lot of time, determination, and hardwork. You know Benjamin Franklin once said, “He that can have patience, can have what he will.” Maybe that’s why, all the world-class athletes and sportsmen have to go through years of training and hard work. During these years, they develop something that differentiates them from the rest — Patience.

2. Stoicism

I came across the concept of stoicism a year ago when a friend of mine told me how stoicism gave her a major paradigm-shift. Intrigued and fascinated, I started reading about it and was pleasantly surprised how it advocates minimalism and endure the severe impact of circumstances without any complaints and cribbing.

You can start reading about it online or from books to learn how to practice patience in the most realistic way.

3. Shift Your Perspective

More than anything, patience is a state of mind that allows to accept that things can happen in a different than you expect them to be. The moment you deliberately start shifting your perspective to look for optimism and goodness in the way things are happening, you will actually start understanding what patience really is. It teaches us what is success, how to define it on our terms, and how to use patience to be successful.

4. Create Your Personal Strategy

We are different from each other. I get happy, sad, angry, or irritated at different things. What works for me might not work for you. It’s important to create a personal strategy as no one knows better than we do. Write a journal and observe what triggers you. Keep your defence mechanism in hand to beat impatience at frustrating times.

Last Few Words

Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself at everything happens for a reason. As Napoleon Hill said, “Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”

Thanks for your patience!

About the Author:

Vartika Kashyap is the Marketing Manager at ProofHub and has been one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2017. Her articles are inspired by office situations and work-related events. She likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click. Follow her on Linkedin.