Shortcuts to Developing Patience

Let me start by confessing: The title of this blog post is a bit of a joke. Of course anyone who is generally impatient will want a quick and easy way to develop patience! I don’t think there is lightning-fast way to develop patience, but I do think it is something that can be nurtured and improved upon over time. Keeping in mind that there is no magic pill you can swallow to improve your patience, let’s talk about why patience is a valuable trait to have, and then discuss some ways you can help it grow, little by little.

The Value of Patience

I truly believe patience is a lost art. Everything is almost instant now—emails, online shopping, weather updates, stock market reports. This immediate access to information can be a good thing, of course, but it can also make us twitchy. If the stock market starts tipping downward, we might have the impulse to sell. Similarly, if it’s gaining ground, we might be inclined to buy without putting much thought into our investments.

It’s hard to imagine, but there was a point in history (not that long ago), when people would purchase stock certificates, squirrel them away in a safe deposit box, and not think about or touch them for years—decades, even! When they needed a little extra cash, they would retrieve those certificates and cash them in.

That type of system would never fly today! What would people do without their instant updates and ability to buy and sell with the click of a button? They’d be forced to be more patient, of course. They would have to make peace with sitting by the sidelines and letting the market do what it wants.

Even though you might lose some power by not being able to do something instantly, you gain a little bit of tranquility and peace. Life moves at a slower pace when you have to, for instance, wait for your rolls of film to be developed. Life is less complicated when you aren’t pinged by dozens of notifications every hour.

So how can we embrace a slower, more tranquil pace of life and become more patient?

A Few Ideas for Cultivating Patience:

• Try turning off all phone notifications except for your important ones.
• Slip your phone into airplane mode when you need to concentrate.
• Commit to only checking your email at certain times during the day, so it doesn’t control your life.
• When you’re about to buy something on impulse, take a step back and wait a week. If you still want the item, go for it! If not, you’ve saved a little cash.
• Instead of purchasing from big box stores that offer quick shipping, commit to supporting local shops that likely do not have the means to offer instant shipping/delivery.
• Delete all apps that give you by-the-minute stock market news.
• Commit to not checking your investments every day (or even every week!).
• Lastly, be patient with yourself. Forgive yourself for the little things and understand that you can’t do everything at once.

By developing a little more patience in our lives, we can decrease stress and quit demanding that everything happens instantly. To me, a slower, more patient world is a better world.