Dear Destiny Friends,

“The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit” – Fabienne Fredrickson

One of the least discussed ingredients of success is patience. Patience can mean positive and negative things to different people depending on how they interpret the associated signs that come with it. While patience can be a blessing when applied to understand lessons, an uninformed mind can see patience as an illusion or loss of hope in disguise.

As widely stated, there is no overnight success, you must pay the price for success. My late dad had always told me that ‘any name you wish to bear, you must work hard for it’, and that entails having patience to see it manifest. Just like a little child must crawl before they can walk and run, that’s exactly how a progressive mind must put in the work which comes with dedication, disappointment, failure, setback and discipline in order to succeed.

To understand how patience works, imagine a farmer who plants crops; the crop will be infested with weeds. The weed will have to be uprooted for the crops to grow, mature and ripe before it can be harvested. An interesting perspective to consider in the life of a farmer is that, if the farmer is not patient enough, he won’t reap the fruit of his labour. In the same manner, if the farmer is not diligent enough to remove the weeds from the crop, he won’t be able to harvest good crops. Again, if the farmer decides to harvest the fruits without waiting for it to mature and ripe, he won’t enjoy the fruit. That’s simply how patience works.

The benefit of patience is priceless. One needs patience to understand the writings on the wall. To know a person, you need patience. To pass an exam, you need patience to read, to build muscle, you need patience to exercise, to train a child you need patience. To build friendship with someone, you need patience to understand the person, and this entails several trials and tests to determine his personality, and the value the person believes in. It is sad to note that many people have lost great friendships because they were not patient enough to walk with the person. An example is a mentee who sees value in a mentor, but he is blinded by a scarce and poverty mindset, thinking of monetary value instead of gaining knowledge.

When you learn patience, you learn to think critically. You will need patience and perseverance to graduate from school, college, or the university. You need patience and perseverance to lose weight. You need patience to build relationships. You need perseverance to build trust with customers. You need patience to make marriage work. You need faith to serve and believe God for a blessing.

Patience gives you the strength to navigate through obstacles and challenges that may come your way as you go through the process. Patience gives you a better perspective which enables us to analyze things and situations beyond their face value. Patience helps to reveal who people are. Little wonder why It is said that no matter how long it takes; the truth will always triumph over lies.

To succeed in life, you must apply the three essential Ps  in achieving any goal, personal or professional. They are patience, persistence, and perseverance. You can’t force success when you haven’t developed the capacity to attract success. It should be noted that you will achieve success when you have developed the capacity to attract success because everything has its time and season. In the same vein, you can’t force the process to happen when it is not the appointed time.

Here are a few advantages of exercising patience.

Positive Energy

It is instructive to note that changing a habit requires strong motivation. When you like what you are doing, you will need patience to make it work. When you like a person, you will also be patient, and tolerate the person, in addition to sacrificing for them to make the relationship work. If it is the other way round if you don’t like your work or the other person.

Smart decision-making

Patience helps us to make informed decisions, and proper use of patience makes us see things clearly. You will avoid rushing into a relationship, signing an agreement, making a promise, or taking any form of decision when you take time to think through the process.

Hope

Patience brings and gives hope. When we are hopeful, we tend to have a natural resilience and willingness to keep trying because we trust in the possibility of a good outcome. A positive hope makes us understand that delay is not denial.

Positive team culture

Patience brings a good working culture. Patience can help us to manage people, especially when they irritate and try to frustrate us. When you have and exercise patience, you tend to be better at managing people.

Excellence

Building a brand and reputation takes time. We cannot plant a seed and expect it to flower overnight. Success always begins with patience and the commitment to put in due diligence necessary for an excellent outcome. Patience develops excellence because it makes you dedicated and attentive to the work at hand. As Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

In summary, the simple truth is, nobody knows when they will achieve success despite applying all the principles. We all have different biological clocks. But one thing is certain for sure is as long as you keep trying, exercising patience, the universe will favour you at the appointed time.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s a Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright to Success. He can be reached info@gloemi.com