Time for Patience

Here's the thing, you wouldn't marry a person you just met. There are a lot of factors at play. You've got to know the person: learn what they like, learn what they dislike. What type of person are they? Do they sniff their socks before they put them on, and so on. Even when you do get to know the person, you'd have to plan your whole wedding together. During this period, you'll get to learn a lot more about the person that you may have not known. In fact, did you know that the average couple spends about 13-18 months planning their wedding (Emily Barge, 2017)? My theory is this: If planning a wedding takes longer than you took to know the person, then you might have a problem down the line. The wedding scenario might be a bit much for you. So, let's take it down a notch.

Imagine you grew up significantly every day. To be more precise, imagine ageing every month was equivalent to the level of ageing per year. That would mean at the 25th month I would look as old as I am today. I think you'd agree that a lot of us would be in trouble right now, wouldn't you? Some of us would be retiring at the age of 5 or 6 (equivalent to 70 months), population would decline in no time and some would run brands like Olay to the ground at the pursuit of anti-wrinkle creams.

I do admit that the scenarios above are quite extreme, but what if I told you that we often behave this way. To put it simply, there is factor in both scenarios that we often disrespect: Time. Online shoppers would understand this. Why order something on Amazon if you don't have Amazon prime? Why buy an item and wait for up to 10 days for it when, for an extra fiver you can get it within 2 working days? In fact, some "fast food" restaurants are taking the quote so seriously to the point where their disclaimers will state something along the lines of "if we don't deliver this to you within an hour, we will give you your money back and you can have the food for free".

Here's the danger with what I've just mentioned above. Over time we develop a sense of entitlement that spells out "this is what I want, and I want it now". While there’s often nothing wrong with that, it is not without its consequences. I am willing to go out on a limb and say that our career interests are beginning to suffer because of this.

When I first studied Human Resources Management, my biggest passion was (and still is) to learn about job satisfaction. Alongside having a stable work life balance, I've come to understand that employees (myself included) love being valued for the work they do and love having a clear career progression. This is what keeps an employee satisfied. 2 days ago, I met with my career counselor regarding the same and she gave me some honest and real feedback, in that I would have to be patient in order to build the experience I desire in this field. That feedback couldn't have come in a timely manner. Prior to this, I had found myself extremely unhappy with my role. I felt I wanted a more senior position and I felt I was already operating at senior level so it made sense that I should be recognized as such. I was impatient. However, I had to be real with myself. Even though I have engaged in senior aspects of the role, I am nowhere near there at the very moment, and that's alright for me to acknowledge that.

There's nothing wrong with patience. Patience is a significant contributor to your growth. It does one no good to be promoted to management level when one hasn't had the patience to acquire the management skills to hold the position. Here's the thing about time, you can't cheat it. You either stay at a much less critical role for years in order to develop yourself until you receive that promotion, or you take the quick route to management, and spend the rest of your years trying figure your role out.

Let's go back to the scenarios above. You're not willing to age every month as if it was every year. You want to take your time to age gracefully every single year. Why would you be willing to treat your career path any different?

So here's the thing, you wouldn't marry a person you just met, would you ?

Quote of the day: "Patience is not an invitation to laziness, it is the encouragement to perform at your best while you wait your turn" - Innocent Matthew.