Patience Will Help You Develop These 4 Life Skills

Patience Will Help You Develop These 4 Life Skills

If you’re pursuing goals that have significant meaning to you, then you will no doubt have had to call upon copious amounts of personal patience. But this little word, to some extent suggests a passive attitude, whereby you are born with this virtue that others may not possess.

Whilst of course some of us are more patient than others, patience itself is anything but passive. Indeed, if you were to look up the meaning of patience, you would find these words:

the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.

Now that puts a completely different spin on the idea of patience!

How often are you able to tolerate problems and suffering without getting at least a little bit annoyed or anxious? I know I’m not that great at being patient.

But maybe this is just how it is and we therefore need to cultivate and really appreciate the part that patience plays as we slowly edge towards the achievement of our goals. Indeed, there’s no doubt that pursuing big and meaningful goals for the long term will develop our patience and with it our chances of actually achieving our goals.

But, there’s more to patience than just getting a grip and keeping a stiff upper lip, because the more we work on our ability to remain patient, the more we will develop other life skills such as the four below…

1 Your Ability to Tolerate Life’s Challenges Will Improve

So what would it look like to exercise meaningful patience?

How we behave as we slowly advance towards our well-earned rewards not only demonstrates our levels of personal control, but it also shows the extent to which we have learned and accepted our role as the maker of our own lives. It reveals whether or not we are willing to take responsibility for our results.

Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting
Joyce Meyer

If we accept that we are responsible for the things that happen to us, then it must be somewhat easier to remain patient. That is, we will have a greater understanding of how we have contributed to our circumstances and therefore the capacity to accept or tolerate the problems and delays without becoming annoyed or anxious.

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2 Over Time You Will Grow Your Perseverance Muscles

Being patient requires us to put in the time, sweat and tears to keep going when others will have given up. It requires us to build upon small, sometimes outwardly insignificant daily actions. It also requires us to ignore the pleas of others to rest-up or give up, because they don’t share or are threatened by our vision of our future.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance
Samuel Johnson

It is in adopting this level of patience and working through the boredom of repetitive tasks that we will eventually create or achieve something amazing, meaningful and special.

In contrast, expecting something amazing, meaningful and special to materialise without making the appropriate effort is unrealistic. But, unfortunately, that’s what a lot of people believe can and should happen.

However, to rise above the ordinary requires extraordinary levels of activity and commitment which in turn requires patience to maintain the momentum.

3 Patience Teaches You To Flow With Rather Than Control Circumstances

Sometimes patience requires that we ride the storm we’ve created. Because, as we progress we will in one way or another upset the status quo. This sometimes means the people around us may find it difficult to come to terms with the changes that their loved one is making, or sometimes it’s because we might be struggling to learn and apply something new (often, it’s the “apply” that is hard!).

I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature
Paulo Coelho

When we’re completely focused on our goals, we’ll often fail to see the rising of the storm. We won’t notice the hint of sarcasm or the pile of laundry waiting to be washed. We have a goal, it’s exciting and we want to get to the rewards as soon as possible!

But being focused can be interpreted by others as disregarding their needs and being hurtful, which can lead to anger and upset.

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But, don’t fall into the trap of being defensive if you’re challenged by a loved one for “ignoring” them. You probably have been wrapped up in your own plans and activities and very likely have been unconsciously overlooking your responsibilities!

Again, patience is called for, to help bring the other person along on the journey, and, to catch up on all the things that make your ‘normal’ life tick along. After all, we mustn’t ignore the here-and-now for the future we’re trying to build.

4 Your Rewards Are Worth The Wait

I guess the problem with patience is that it’s hard. It’s hard to keep on keeping on in the light of little to no progress, the struggle when that’s all you want to do is eat something ‘nice’, the stress feels too high or the outcome seems so far away.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

But of course, that only remains true if your patience runs out and you choose to give in before the results are realised.

Because with continued patience you will learn that not only are the results and rewards worth the wait, but, when looking back over your journey, you’ll know that the rewards were worth the effort. You have created something special and meaningful, that you have achieved something that puts you beyond the ordinary and into the extraordinary category!

So, stay patient and keep with your plan and you will reap those wonderful rewards!