What do you do when it takes 16 hours to travel what normally takes three hours?
There is only one answer and this is not a riddle. You have patience. That's when you realize that patience truly is a virtue. If you are not a patient of patience you will become its victim.
This recently happened to me as I returned from a client visit. I will spare you the details as I am sure they are even less interesting to read than they are to write. Well, we are always asking for more downtime, so God granted me plenty of it on that particular day!
In today’s microwave world, we start tapping our foot in anticipation because it takes 30 painstaking seconds to pop our popcorn. But greatness takes time to grow.
The rewards of patience are similar to the results of planting an exotic Chinese bamboo seed. When this particular seed is planted and nurtured, it can take up to two years for a sprout to break through the earth. It requires the right watering, sunlight, care and feeding so it can build a strong root structure and foundation for growth, none of which is visible above ground. However, once it breaks ground, this plant can grow over 100 feet in two weeks! The benefits of patience are abundant with this seed... just as they are with personal patience.
Be impatient to plant the seeds of excellence, but be patient enough to watch them grow.
Here are a few of my favorite quotations from the Patience chapter of The Nature of Excellence...
"The strongest of all warriors are these two: Time and Patience." - Leo Tolstoy
"Patience is also a form of action." - Auguste Rodin
"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in one ahead." - Bill McGlashen
"Be a pro. Take it slow." - Ronald H. Davis
"Patience makes lighter what sorrow may not heal." - Horace
We compete in a more, better, faster world, but patience still pays off.
