Balancing Passion with Patience

Photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash

This may initially sound counterintuitive with the whole go-go-go, “Lean In” thing, but hear me out. 

I know that I am a pretty anxious creature: in general, I think it’s fair to say that many working women know what we want and we want it NOW. What I’m arguing is that operating at 100 mph at all times is not sustainable. You are surely on the track for burnout at that speed. 

What I propose instead is that you resolve yourself to a practice of patience: know that you are building the foundation for something successful in the future. And like anything worth working towards in life, that takes time: which sometimes means we have to wait longer than we’d like to. 

But rushing towards your goals isn’t natural, and patience isn’t really talked about as something valuable. Does anyone really WANT to become workaholic? Do you have an impatient coworker or boss, and are they fun to be around? Just like children can’t rush growing up, getting to your end goal will happen exactly when it needs to: and you need to accept that it may not be today. 

That’s not to say you can’t have steady determination to reach your goals. Those who struggle with patience can be tempted to give up on something because they don’t want to wait. The delays working women deal with on a daily basis are very discouraging and frustrating. They lead to even more anxiety because many times these delays are out of our control. 

I want to challenge you to face your delays with patience. Build up your skills, put in the work to take yourself to the next level, and pick your battles. If you have the patience, resolve, grit and persistence to hold out for the right time, you’ll have less resistance and make more progress. Patience is an asset, and for working moms like myself, our patience is tested on a daily basis, and my capacity for patience has grown exponentially since I became a mother. 

So try not to sweat the small stuff, as you have a bigger picture in mind. Stay the course, continue to show up and work towards growth but don’t rush to get there.