Cover Photo by @punttim: https://unsplash.com/photos/_U-x3_FYxfI

This is a serious question to you.

You commonly hear people say: “patient is a virtue”. Here are some other patience quotes:

“He that can have patience can have what he will.” — Benjamin Franklin

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” — Napoleon Hill

“Though patience, great things are accomplished.” — Imam Ali

I personally like this one best:

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” — author unknown

I’m a very impatient person. I started working on farms when I was 8 years old and was getting paid by productivity.

Obviously that changed my whole perspective on efficiency from a very early age. For better or worse.

The Good (In My Mind)

I have this obsession with time. About not wasting any of it. I always try to find ways to learn new things as efficiently as possible.

When I was 29 years old, I was afraid of the 30s, thinking I hadn’t accomplished enough for my age. Yet I was (and still am) happily married, had a college degree, had sold a property for great profit, started 4 businesses, had done over 10 different jobs, stayed mid-term in other countries, traveled around the world to over 45 countries, and why not: finished over 200 video games.

I’m 31 years old and find the 30s amazing. I’m wiser, more interesting, and learn at a faster pace than ever before. I talk more about that in How To Frequently Trigger Happy Accidents And Why It Matters.

I learn 3 new skills per month because I find our regular day-to-day learning pace to be too slow for me. Heck, I dropped out of Software Engineering school because the learning pace was too slow and not focused enough the software classes.

From the outside world, I get criticized for lacking focus, yet I work at least 10 hours per day on Soul Reaper and have been working on the game on/off for 4 years. That’s some serious focus and dedication in my mind.

So on that, Impatience seems like a skill to me.

The Bad (In My Mind)

It hurts me deep inside when things are slow:

Waiting on a red light kills me.
Waiting for the bus kills me.
A flight that is delayed kills me.
A deadline that is not met kills me.
A person who arrives late for any reason kills me.
A computer or phone that takes forever to open something kills me.
Waiting for an elevator kills me.

You get the point.

And being in Spain right now, things are just at a different pace I’m used to (no discrimination here).

They take the time to “enjoy life”. They put a lot of emphasis on social interactions. Which is good, in my opinion. I’m way more social since I’m here.

But damn does it bother me that 8pm means 10pm for them!

Waiting for things makes me anxious. I’m boiling deep inside. Seriously. I try to hide it. Most people probably can’t tell, but my wife knows every time.

So on that, Impatience feels very much like a weakness to me.

So I re-iterate my question here:

Is Impatience A Weakness Or A Skill?

What are your thoughts on this?

Is impatience a weakness?

Or impatience is a skill?

On a personal level? On a professional level?

Are you impatient?

If so, how do you calm your mind when you feel impatient?

I genuinely would love to hear your thoughts on that. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Thanks for reading! :)