Lately I’ve been learning a lot about patience. Either through my own experiences or by witnessing others, patience is such a critical skill to have. Patience is defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Patience is not something we are born with and instead is a skill we develop through practice and growth. In my journey to become more patient I’ve identified pivotal ways to grow this capacity.
When was the last time somebody tested your patience? If it was pretty recent or if you’re just curious to learn, let’s go over 3 steps you can take to become more patient:
1) Go Over Your Attitude
The first person you always have to look at is: yourself. You determine how you react to any conversation and whether it affects your mood or not. At the end of the day, your attitude will define the tone of your day. You decide whether anger will take over and whether you will have patience or not. When people start testing your patience, try to take a step back and decide to tolerate the situation you are about to go through. Everybody has a difficult day and, on those days specially, you will feel tested all day long. In days like these, go over your attitude and constantly remind yourself to be patient no matter what may come your way.
2) Have A Back-Up Plan
Another way I like to use is what I like to call “preparing for patience”. Do you remember that time you had to wait at an office for 30 to 45 minutes with low battery on your phone and nothing else to do? Last time this happened to me I actually had to ask the receptionist to let me borrow a charger because I wasn’t prepared for the delay I was about to go through. I’ve been there many times and I’ve learned that the best way to avoid impatience is to prepare for situations of delay. You can prepare by packing some of the following items:
- Your most recent book
- Your phone charger
- Your journal or agenda
You get the idea, basically anything that can help you be productive in a moment of delay. Having any of these items will allow you get work done while you wait and increase your patience.
3) Discover Your Holding Period
This step is a long-term plan to grow your patience. It’s a discovery process that takes time and that’s why I like to call this step “discovering your holding period”. Try experimenting with your patience by selecting a target purchase. Choose something meaningful that is outside of your price range. It could be a trip, an experience, an object, or even a car that even though you could probably afford it on credit, you could not on cash just yet. Once you have a target purchase, choose a target date and start saving for it. Put aside an amount every week and before you know it, you will have enough to buy this. Reflect on this process and see how much it took from you to have the patience to go through this.
I’ve learned that patience doesn’t happen overnight and that is something we have to keep in mind at all times. Go over your attitude, prepare for patience, and discover your holding period to become more patient. Did you enjoy this post? Please let me know if you would like to see more posts like this.