The wisdom to know that there is no hurry

We live in a results oriented culture.

We’ve been trained not to waste our time with anything that can’t prove itself quickly of its own efficacy.

And as a result, we now have zero patience. We no longer have the faith required to wait things out.

It’s tragic. Just imagine how many world changing products never make it out the door because some restless entrepreneur distorts her work by not allowing its proper timing.

Just imagine how many profitable projects are sharply abandoned in the first few months because some middle manager is in a rush to prove something to somebody.

If only they had known, time is the component that is not in play yet. And if they would have stayed the course for another six months, they would have seen results.

But that’s not the way we’re are wired. Few people have the wisdom to know that there is no hurry.

Hawking, the theoretical physicist and cosmologist, once said that if we wait long enough, the improbable is inevitable. Now, that’s not the kind of insight you can take your board of directors or investors, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

Look, it takes time to build valuable things, and that means delayed revenue. But it doesn’t mean delayed action. Smart companies hedge their bets. They don’t put all their creative eggs in one basket. They start more and more new project initiatives to offset the problems with the ones that are bogged down.

Bandura’s research on the cognitive functioning of creative thinkers proved this very approach. His studies found that our creative efforts are more productively deployed when we pursue multiple projects simultaneously, at varying stages of completion, shifting among them as circumstances dictate.

In doing so, he says, we’re less likely to succumb to the impediments, false starts, inevitable delays and distractions of the creative process, and more likely to experience greater productivity and goal attainment.

Believe it or not, that’s a form of patience too.

Hustle while you wait.

What if you learned to balance relaxation and exertion?