How I feel right know – patiently waiting that is
Those who know me well, know that I pride myself in being analytically fast.
That I like speed. Organisational speed in business, mental speed in decision making, and limited (by my ability, not my desire) speed when skiing.
They also know I am not patient. I am in fact impatient. Waiting really stresses me out. I feel out of control, I agitate.
A major reason why I am addicted to smoking relates to – indeed – my lack of patience. I started many years ago when hitch-hiking around Australia. Hours and hours of waiting – often in vain given the sporadic traffic. And the illusion that smoking might make waiting time pass faster.
Such is my lack of patience that even today, as I write again on this blog after months of absence, I did not take the time to properly remember the functionality of wordpress, that powers the site. I launched right into it.
Hence, I beg forgiveness for the usual typos, and any ugly features on this post.
But back to the main subject: patience vs speed.
A series of personal circumstances have me waiting for a message. Dear readers, this is driving me insane. I have had a similar experience in work, especially when waiting for a reply from a potential client. Again at work, often the reason is legitimate (person is away, decision not made yet etc). Other times, it is lack of organisational speed.
Still, I find everything relating to work much easier, either more controllable or at least manageable. Well, I am sure that Johannes or Katherine would have many stories about my anxiety when things did not move fast. And at least I found a way to monetise all of this, but creating a consulting “product” called Organisational Speed which I sold successfully to a few multinational clients. So I monetised my revenge.
Personal patience, ah personal patience is hard.
Especially one can see another person’s point of view, and a more reflective way of thinking.
I mean, it makes it harder to wait when I cannot at least complain about it. I am in such a situation today. I wish to get this message, I wish to talk about this, but I have to wait and be patient.
Very hard.
As I reflected on my stoicism it came to mind that in many languages there is the same saying: “Patience is a Virtue”. In Dutch they say Geduld is een schone zaak and in Italian there is Giobbe (Job) so often lauded for his biblical patience.
This made me reflect: why doesn’t anyone say that “speed is a virtue”?
Ok I am not patient but at least I am fast, isn’t that at least a good quality, if not a virtue?
Not according to my Mum, I lost count (and patience) on how many times she told me that being fast is actually a flaw.
I must admit that – likewise – most religions predicate the value of patience. Certain orders of nun and Buddhist monks have perfected the art of patience and seem to live better lives.
The more I think about this, the more I admit I must be on the wrong side of the patience vs speed divide.
And herein lies a new jcbits classic dilemma. An argumentative catch 22 if you will.
Even if admit that all my life I have been wrong, and that I should be more patient: how should I go about it?
Should I make this decision quickly – with speed and rapidly become patient? (oxymoron one)
Or should I take my time, and become patient slowly (hence in the meantime remaining fast? (oxymoron two)
Dear readers, patient ones and fast ones alike, please enlighten me
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It sounds like you are experiencing quite the conundrum!
Patience is overrated. If your value system is goal-oriented, aspiring to patience will eternally frustrate you..
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Ah I like minded reader. Thank you for your understanding Erin
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I guess it truly depends on what outcomes you desire. Buddhist monks have no need to be fast, only to free themselves of anxiety and mental anguish. Why patience is valuable and is often preached as a virtue by various spiritual and religious types is because it infers enduring discomfort without complaint – thus the values of self control and humility. While we can agree that these are considered good personal values across cultures they might not be the best for organizations to adopt.
In relation to the phrase of “speed is a virtue” I think there is a fundamental problem right off the bat as people seem to associate it with the parable of “The Tortoise and the Hare”, in that being patient/slow results in an overall better performance than being fast – people forget that in this story it was the hare’s arrogance and poor use of time that caused his loss.
Who says we can’t work quickly and effectively? There are a lot of people whose jobs require speed, precision and finesse; from the lowly McDonalds burger assembler, to the emergency medical technician in the back of an ambulance, to the equities and derivatives traders making on the spot decisions. No one ever got promoted for being slow, but assuming all things equal, speed is most definitely a virtue in all jobs (except working at the the RTA of course).
Organizationally speaking, I cannot think of a single arena in which slowness is praised over speed with of course the obvious exception of various local councils and government organisations. Renowned military commander and strategist George S. Patten was once quoted as saying “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”
A personal favorite theory of mine is something known as the OODA loop. The OODA theory, which stands for observe, orient, decide and act, is a powerful tool for making both tactical and strategic decisions on the battlefield and in the realm of business. And while the complexity of this model is more than what I want to delve into here, the winners in military and business according to OODA are those who can complete their loops the fastest.
If we were to come down to it all and try and decide whether you should maintain your urgency or try to become patient I guess it comes down to whether or not you want to practice and preach organisational speed or success or be… comfortable. I’m sure we can all agree that a couple of cigarettes are worth it.
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Thank you Ben
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Waiting of something waste more energy then really do something!
Patience is unfortunately nothing for successful people… Sometimes, clients also use the limits of patience of their business partners as a strategy. Is just a part of game. In Germany we call it “hochpockern”.
Really hart and complicated are…when the people we loved need patience and time. Maybe is there time to remember why we are loved…? Beeing patient or not, is a part of us and no one and nothing can totally change that…
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Thank you Carmen
it looks like most readers favour speed, anyone in favour of patience?
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I think I’m in favour of both… To me, speed and patience are both valuable and not necessarily opposites. The opposite of patience would be impatience/frustration and can slow things down more than patience usually does. The opposite of speed would be… sluggishness?
Rapidly becoming patient sounds pretty good to me!
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Thank you Naomi
great input, although your suggested path might not be easy to implement…