It’s said that patience is a virtue that is essential for all to learn.
From the blogger who wants to build a large following to the athlete who wants to be the best in their sport. They all need to practice patience in their journey.
There is no such thing as an overnight success. Although it might seem that some people come out of nowhere, what you don’t see are the years of hard work, perseverance and patience that have been behind that journey up until that moment of breakthrough.
It’s key for me to point out here that I don’t believe the practice of patience and the phrase “good things come to those who wait” are the same thing. In reality, good things come to those who work their arses off and have the pateince to stay the course to reach their aspirations.
You’ve most likely encountered an array of stories on the success of those who can be patient and the failings of those who cannot. We’ve seen this in recent history with the surreal events of the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 experienced across 2020. Patience was most certainly tested during this time but it is exactly our ability to be patient which will allow us to shape a safer world.
I’m sure in your everyday activities who’ve encountered the people who have said they are going to do this thing or start that thing. Only to find they give up at the first hurdle as the need for instant gratification and success is not met. This is the prime example of the in-ability to practice patience.
Success in anything is not built in days, weeks or months. It’s built over years and decades.
Let me share a recent story from my own world to demonstrate this point in detail.
About 12 months ago, I decided to try to grow a new Ivy plant from a stem (or for the houseplant buffs, this is known as propagating) on my existing giant of a fully grown Ivy. The goal was to teach myself how to grow something from virtually nothing into something new.
The process seemed incredibly simple. Cut a small stem from an existing fully grown plant, leave this steam in water for 3 weeks to grow roots and transfer to soil in a pot. Very simple right? And it was. The weeks flew by, roots appeared and I transferred my evolving creation to a plant pot.
Next it was time to get my little plant growing in it’s pot. So, I did the usual weekly watering routine and waited for signs of new life. A few weeks went by with no results, so I waited. Then another few weeks went by and nothing much happened. Then 3 months went by with no change, so I waited a little longer. Then before I knew it another 6 months had gone by and my little creation had not grown one bit in 9 months. I was starting to contemplate whether I had royally screwed up this whole houseplant growing thing.
I was coming close to chucking in the towel and disposing of what I thought was a lost creation. But then, something unexpected happened. Just as my patience was waving very thin, I was greeted with a pleasant surprise.
One morning I looked down at the little plant pot I was slowly beginning to feel defeated by and saw something I had not seen in the 11 months that had passed up to this moment, NEW GROWTH!. I write that in capitals as the written word cannot express the emotions I felt in seeing this evolution before my eyes.
I had waited 11 months to see this. I planted that single stem with no knowledge of how it would turn out. Maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn’t. I’m sure many would have thrown in the towel way before the eventual 11 month mark where progress was visible.
And the key ingredient in all of this? patience. I had to invest in this plant by caring for it for 11 months straight before I saw any return. If I expected to build another large Ivy in a few weeks or months, then I would have given up very quickly.
Although this story might seem completely obscure in some ways. It reminded me of a very valuable lesson once again. We must all have patience in whatever we do.
It is in hard work and patience that we will see results. The old saying goes that Rome wasn’t built in a day and the same goes for your career, business ventures, relationships and side projects.
If you want to find success, then I recommend you invest in practicing patience my friends.
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