Patience Is More Than Just A Virtue

As some of you know I’ve recently taken on a project that has me learning iPhone programming. Not only iPhone programming but programming a game for the iPhone.

This little adventure has me thinking in new directions, learning new skills, and getting excited about programming all over again.

Along with the excitement of learning new things comes the challenge of being stretched in areas that have long lied dormant in my life. I’m being exposed to concepts that are completely foreign to me and having to dig to find answers that sometimes leave me more confused than before I asked the question.

I’m often guilty of repeating “This is hard. I’m not stupid. I will learn. I will defeat this challenge. I will win.” In fact, I mumble that little mantra several times a day.

Yesterday I discovered a particular nasty error in a routine I wrote that really threw me for a loop because I couldn’t figure out what was triggering the error. Finally, after about an hour and a half of reading, poking around in the debugger and general bug hunting, I found the cause of the error and was able to fix it.

“Patience is a virtue,” popped into my head, once I was able to run the routine error free. A sentiment with which I must agree.

As I thought about it, though, I came to the conclusion that patience is much more than a virtue. Patience can be an extremely powerful tool you can use in your journey toward success.

Here’s what I mean:

1. Patience protects against the pain and disruption of worry

   How often have you spent a whole night worrying about something that either didn’t happen or didn’t have the disastrous effect you thought it might have?

   Worry is a killer. It eats your sleep. It saps your energy. It lies to you. It causes you to become cynical and suspicious. It’s disruptive and painful. All-in-all it’s a very bad neighbor.

   Patience is a powerful counter attack against worry because it frees you up from the demand to make things work out right now. It puts the demand for immediate gratification in its place.

   As a result you give your “action plan” time to work out. You open the door to opportunity and back away from the issue far enough to see possible solutions you might have missed.

   Patience is a worry slayer.

2. Patience gives power to take consistent daily action.

   Nothing happens until you take action. But too often we take action and expect results immediately.

   Most of the time that is simply not the way things work. In order to achieve your goals and dreams it requires many action steps done over a period of time.

   Life just isn’t simple. It takes thought, planning, action, evaluation and adjustment. Patience is a powerful ally and support as you work through that whole process.

3. Patience leads to insight when facing things you don’t understand.

   I could have let the frustration of my bug hunt distract me or cause me to quit, but if I had done that I would never have found the solution.

   But by patiently trying one thing at a time, by reading Apple’s documentation about certain functions and by experimenting, poking, and digging, I eventually found the source of the problem. Thus I was able to come up with a solution.

   If I hadn’t been patient toward my problem. I still might be sitting here pulling out my hair rather than writing this post. And believe me I can’t afford any more hair loss.

4. Patience allows you to plan for the long-term thus keeping you anchored to your ultimate life vision.

   Finally, patience is your best friend when it comes toward achieving your long-term dreams.

   Patience keeps you from jumping from one thing to another in pursuit of the quick fix. It keeps you from being distracted by the shiny. It helps you focus on the important.

   Patience produces, because patience is a conscious act. Achievement is never accomplished unconsciously. Achievement requires intention and patience is all about intention.

So there you have it. Four ways in which patience is more than just a virtue. Four ways in which patience can add depth and quality to your life.

How else do you see patience adding to your life? How have you experienced the blessings of patience? Share your thoughts with the rest of us by leaving a comment in the comment area below.

Photo Credt: flickr user Lisa Norwood