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Five Benefits of Developing Patience
Rev. Dr. Kitty Boitnott, NBCT, RScP
Heart-Centered Career Transition & Job Search Coach | Possibility Thinker
There are many reasons why developing patience is good for you. Patience can help you live longer and enjoy life more. Patience can make getting something you have waited for mean that much more when you have attained it. Patience can even make waiting, which is sometimes necessary, more bearable.
Patience is not everyone's strong suit, however. My sister often says that she struggles with it. Frankly, I do too. But I doubt that we are alone in this area.
There is a reason that people say patience is a virtue.
Practicing patience is difficult a lot of times, but it is especially challenging when job hunting. The truth is that looking for a new job or career can be a long, drawn-out process. It often takes much longer than people would like. In fact, the average job search may take four to nine months--or longer--
depending on a variety of factors that are usually outside of your control. But here is the deal. If you are committed to making a meaningful change in your life, you may just need to be patient both with yourself and with the process.
Here are five reasons why it is important to exercise patience.
1. Better decision-making. When you exercise patience, you make better decisions. Waiting and analyzing the situation allows for better decision-making. Impatience, on the other hand, often leads to poor choices. Patience enables you to look at the big picture instead of focusing only on the present.
When making major decisions, you need to look at the long view. Making decisions can lead to a lot of headaches. When you are looking at the pros and cons of a job or career change, practicing patience is imperative.
2. Better understanding. Using patience when dealing with people allows you to communicate more effectively. Practice patience by making a more considerable effort to understand the perspectives of others. Try to understand their beliefs, backgrounds, and attitudes.
Impatience leads to making judgmental decisions, and sometimes those decisions turn out badly.
3. Better health. There is no doubt that being patient means less stress, anger, and frustration. This, in turn, means your health will be affected positively. We all know stress can lead to a variety of health issues. Being impatient can lead to extra stress in your life. When your emotions get the best of you, it usually negatively affects your health. (For more about stress, click here for a post on how to manage your stress head-on.)
4. Better growth. Practicing patience means allowing situations and people to help us mature. Patience also helps us to wait for things that are worthwhile. Patience can also help you organize your time. Patience allows us to make wiser decisions. With patience, we let ourselves wait for the right time and right circumstances.
5. Better outlook. Waiting to make the right decision will usually mean making the right choice for the long term. Impatient people make decisions for the present, and short-term payoffs. But patient people make decisions for the future. They make their decisions based on past, present, and future choices and information. They weigh all that carefully before making a decision.
Take time to slow down and consider your choices before you make any significant decision.
Waiting may make you feel like you are wasting your time. After all, being patient delays gratification, for at least a while. That's increasingly difficult these days. And, let's face it. We live in a culture that seems increasingly to rejoice in instant gratification.
Developing the ability to be patient takes practice. You may have to learn how to delay your gratification. But it can be well worth the effort, depending on the situation.
Make practicing patience a definite goal to achieve over time. You can practice persistence by setting a goal for something you really want. Many people make a New Year's resolution only to abandon the goal a month later. Sticking with a vital goal develops both patience and persistence. These are critical attributes while job hunting. Practice patience, make wiser decisions and delay instant gratification. The reward may surprise you.
Until next time.
In this presentation, I talk about what it takes to get from "stuck" to "successful" if you are ready to undertake--or you are in the middle of an unsuccessful--job search or career change.
Sometimes people think it is a simple matter to change jobs or careers. Unfortunately, it just isn't. There is much you don't know about the process these days, and in the case of job hunting, what you don't know WILL hurt you and your efforts.
Until next time.
P.S.
Happy 4th of July a day early! I hope you can take the day to relax with friends and enjoy the holiday in a way that befits what it represents.
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