Despite how lost we may feel, majority of us are not lost. Too often I hear people say that they don’t know what they’re doing with their lives. You do know, you just haven’t taken the time to ponder about it. As millennials, we are early on in our life process. We fear that we won’t discover our calling more than we take the time out to focus on the next steps, that will unite us with our purpose. I define successful people as people who don’t quit on their dreams and goals. No matter how awful you are at something if you are relentless about achieving it, eventually you will achieve it. Life doesn’t give us what we ask for, life gives us the people, time and place, so we can learn the skills we asked for. You ask for patience and you get a line at the bank.
Being patient is simply one’s ability to tolerate and persevere when things get tough.We have to take it slow from time to time to clear our heads. While clearing your head, you’ll realize that most of the time you have all the answers that you need. Some of my most remarkable discoveries about myself come from being still. Every week’s blog topic is a result of me taking time to be still and aware of a topic that depicts my feelings of the week. I get torn between pushing myself to accomplish my goals and being patient with myself when I encounter setbacks. This week is all about being more patient with myself.
These last couple days, I’ve been feeling like I’m not where, or doing what I imagined myself doing at this point in my life. It’s not that I’m not proud of myself, because I am. It’s more that I feel I should be doing more with my life purpose. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. If I had a dollar for anytime one of my friends said this about their life, I’d be able to comfortably afford my Manhattan rent.
Sometimes I feel like I need to rush because time is ticking. When in actuality time is my greatest asset. I have many more years to mess up and try new things. I have minimal responsibilities and bills. I often confuse being impatient, busy, and ineffective with being passionate, productive, and driven. There is no timeline for success. Many successful people like Oprah, Samuel Jackson, Colonel Sanders etc. didn’t reach their success peak until later in their lives. Yes, there are the Mark Zuckerberg’s of the world, but we all have our own timelines for our journeys. My goal is to be on Forbes 30 under 30. What’s your goal?
Have patience with yourself and others, and you will evolve. Give yourself time to figure things out. Do not allow anyone to rush you! Truly believe in YOUR ability to figure your life out. Stop looking for others to do it for you. I believe that everyone including myself, needs to take more responsibility for their actions and feelings, and stop placing blame on others.
There’s no such thing as over night success or luck. As Oprah beautifully put it “Luck is preparation meeting the moment of opportunity. There is no luck without you being prepared to handle that moment of opportunity. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for the moment that is to come.” Things can accelerate over night only if you’ve been patiently working for weeks, months, years with determination. Have faith that your hard work will pay off, no matter what challenges you face.
Patient people are mindful.
Patient people are grateful.
Patient people live out your purpose everyday.
Patient people learn to manage their emotions and force themselves to slow down.
Patient people refuse to give up.
So I’ll leave you with one task to implement in your everyday life to become more patience:
-
Make yourself wait on a daily basis. For instance, make yourself wait for the next train. Make yourself put off watching your favorite show. Make yourself finish the task you were working on before eating lunch. Make yourself wait ten minutes before checking who just texted you. Make yourself meditate for 5 minutes a day. I promise you that these small hacks will help make you more patient in the long run.
Namaste,
Sade