Ever noticed how impatience affects your life?
Most people are not self-aware that they’re impatient. No, I’m not talking about the small things like waiting for your coffee order or your turn in the bathroom. I’m talking about the bigger things in life such as fulfilling our purpose or our journey to goal achievement.
In this article, I talk about how being patient is the key to fulfillment in life, and impatience as a thief of success. I dive into how most people (including myself) don’t realize that they are being impatient, AND the need to be self-aware of this fact. Impatience is a theme for many people, especially those who have big goals and visions. How can impatience impact their lives?
Don’t want to read? Watch the full video at the bottom of this post!
Impact of Impatience in Our Fulfillment in Life
One of the things that made me aware of my own impatience and the realization of the need for a mindset shift, was when I started my 75 Hard Challenge. Impatience is one of the traits I am working on, and most of you should too.
As I’ve mentioned above, most people are not self-aware that they are impatient. However, impatience lies deep into our cores, especially for us who have big dreams and huge visions of success. The first sign of impatience is when you get frustrated that people in your team don’t work at the same pace as you do.
Are You a “QuickStarter”?
Quick Starters are people who are highly motivated by ideas. When they think of something great or when they want something, they want to start right away. Hence, quick starters. Quick starters overwhelm themselves with tasks and projects because they are impatient. They are more attached to the outcome – thus, they don’t feel fulfilled with the little wins along the way. Consequently, they have a looong way before they feel that sense of full gratitude – and miss the point of being present in the journey.
I know that because I’m one too.
Impatience Makes Us Forget to be Grateful
Impatience can cause anxiety and lack of enjoyment. Plus, it can also be a root cause of failure to commit to going after one’s goal.
When we put all our focus on the end goal, we often forget the journey. We disregard the achievements we made along the way. When the journey takes too long, we get negative feelings.
Life is short. All of this time thinking about the bigger or end goal is literally willing your life to speed up. So rather, it’s best to slow it down. Embrace and feel every step of the journey. Be more present in the NOW and celebrate the little wins. With this mindset shift, you’ll be able to feel happier and fulfilled with your life.
How To Eradicate Impatience from Your Life
The first step to overcome impatience is to become aware of what your are patient about and what are you impatient about. Noticing those patterns makes you more connected. It also gives you the ability to control your urges.
It’s impossible to completely eradicate impatience from your life. Many external factors around us magnify impatience – part of being in society makes us easy to fall prey on it.
But what we can control are our patterns such as being attached to the end outcome. Instead of that, be attached to the journey instead. It will make life more enjoyable and you’ll feel more gratitude in your everyday life.
Practice Gamification
If you want to challenge yourself and have more patience, why not try to gamify it? Gamification can change your perspective through the challenge of waiting for delayed gratification. Just because you have a craving, just because you have an impulse, why not wait a few hours or days? This will help you to focus on what’s important as well, other than getting the satisfaction you get after waiting.
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0:00-0:55 Introduction
0:56-2:35 How Being Impatient is Challenging my 75 Hard Challenge
2:46-4:05 Impatience as a Theme for Many People
4:06-12:18 QuickStart, Awareness of Your Impatience, and The Journey
12:19 – 16:10 Is Impatience Learned by Seeing or Organically Developed?
16:11-24:03 Changing Your Perspective Through Gamification
24:04-25:58 Closing
