The fine art of being patient

Patience was the subject of our most recent practice along with the below quote from Edward G. Bulwar.

"Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength"

This got me thinking about the speed at which I do things and I have to admit that my approach is very much to sprint until you can’t anymore which, I am now beginning to realise may mean that I am missing out on something. This is particularly pertinent considering that I have spent the quiet summer months reminding myself that I must be patient because in fact not everyone is beavering away at their desks trying to meet my deadlines but are in fact, probably sunning themselves in Spain.

Whilst travelling across London to various meetings recently, spending time in cafes, schools, businesses, boardrooms and even Dorothy Perkins, I have been forced to trust that despite the fact that other people have other demands on their time, if I am patient, at some point, on the whole, they will make the time. It is then that I need to be ready to sprint and not to be in a heap on the floor out of breath and out of ideas. I have to allow time for the opportunities to appear and to materialise as much as to hunt them down and force a conclusion.

But, how do I ignore the overwhelming desire to get those ticks on my list and to instead allow things to develop, perhaps not on my timescale, in a way that could produce something that is beyond what I could have expected to get?

I think it is at this point that you have to trust yourself as a leader, trust the work that you have done and take part in the fine art which is being patient.