A common refrain to remind ourselves to have patience refers to Rome not being constructed in only a single day.
I guess clichés are clichés for a reason. They’re easy to say and roll off the tongue. They make us sound wise and cause everyone to nod their heads in agreement.
They are also oftentimes only half-truths at best.
Three things have taught me patience in the last few years. Becoming a father, becoming serious about investments, and gardening. Each one tests certain aspects of myself and, if I am self-aware enough, can teach me a great deal about how to avoid my weaknesses and maximize my strengths.
The problem is this process is slow, laborious, and sometimes painful.
When we embark on the path of becoming what we might, we will sometimes meet disappointment and failure despite our best efforts. We put results before process and get frustrated. And we hit plateaus, lose patience, and try to find shortcuts despite knowing the shortcut is a lie.
Besides, the good things are worth it.
So trust yourself. Trust the process. Experiment to find what gets good results and then double down on what does.
Not yet where you want to be?
Keep laying those bricks.
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