Have a little patience.

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” – Bill Gates.

Like me, a lot of people suffer from something known as “impatience”. We figure out what we want and then focus all our energy on achieving it at as soon as we possibly can. Now, whilst this focus is often a positive thing and can lead to great outcomes,  it can also lead to distraction away from our ultimate long-term goal.

In life, patience is certainly a virtue, and those who have it will ultimately end up more satisfied once they reach their goals than those who lack it. The impatient mind will simply look for the next big goal and begin to pursue that instead – never content with what they have achieved and always looking for more.

Of course, this kind of endeavour can make a person very driven and very successful. However, constantly having this monkey on your back means that you will seldom reach true appreciation of the things that make you happy. You won’t be able to take that step back and be thankful for the things you have if you’re always looking for something more.

For me, true success is reaching a point at which you can be truly grateful for the life you have when waking up each morning. To achieve this however, you must have the patience to get there and the self-awareness to realise once you have arrived.

Don’t get frustrated if you try something and it doesn’t go your way immediately. Remember, you can only start at the beginning and there will be many obstacles in the way of achieving what you want to achieve. You can either allow these obstacles to stop you in your tracks, forcing you back to where you started, or, you can have the patience to figure out a way to overcome them and keep moving forward. After all, any goal worth achieving is worth the journey. The more difficult something seems, the more satisfying it will be to achieve. There is only one person who will prevent you achieving your goals, and that person is you.

In a world that is constantly moving, it is easy to feel as though we’re always playing catch up. We want to follow the latest trends, own the latest gadgets and drive the latest vehicles. These things are merely distractions however, to the stuff that actually matters in life – the things we really want to achieve on a more spiritual level.

Don’t allow the noise to distract you. Appreciate what you have and don’t lose sight of the things that really matter. It doesn’t matter what other people think – it’s your life and the only person you’re accountable to is yourself. Sure, you may know what you want to achieve, but without patience you will never be satisfied.