When It's Hard to Be Patient, Here's What You Do

"But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] thoroughly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing." - James 1:4 AMP

PATIENT: able to remain calm and not become annoyed when waiting for a long time or when dealing with problems or difficult people; steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity

I know the feeling, I bet you do, too.

You want to be successful. You don't like your life as it is, and you want to make some changes.

That's why you started your own business. You saw a chance to create a better life, so you took the plunge.

You rolled up your sleeves to get started...then you got a reality check...

Building a business wasn't as easy as you thought it would be. You didn't just snap your fingers and have people dump money on you left and right so you could say, "I'M RICH..!!"

Success takes WORK..!! LOTS of it...what a concept!

What's really frustrating you is that you want results so bad you can almost taste them. You want them YESTERDAY!!!

That's not how things work. And the last thing you want to hear is, "be patient...Rome wasn't built in a day.."

To be honest, that's exactly what you need to hear. But not for the reasons you may think you need to hear it. Let me explain. 

When most people hear someone say, " be patient," or "have patience," this is what they think:

Do nothing. Just let "nature run its course," and eventually situations will work themselves out for your benefit.

That's a load of CRAP..!!! Chances are you smell it more than I do. Sorry to be so blunt but I call it as I see it.

Patience has nothing to do with sitting on your butt, wishing someone would work things out for you.

At some point, you have to put your backfield in motion and make things start happening yourself.

I'm not saying you have to do it alone from start to finish. People do come alongside to help but nothing happens until you get the ball rolling. You can't win a race you don't run.

Having patience means you start working toward your goal and keep working, even when nothing seems to be happening. For example...

Let's say you're traveling by car. Your trip takes 12 to 16 hours to complete, and you'll need to make stops along the way...

Gas, food, rest, bathroom breaks, maybe stay at a hotel for a few hours' sleep...you get the picture.

As you drive the trees look the same. So do the street lights...and the asphalt in front of you looks like that stretch of road you just passed. 

It seems like you're not making any progress as you "...ease on down the road..." (sorry, flashback from The Wiz, couldn't resist). 

But you keep driving. You ignore the road, the trees, the street lights. You follow the path in front of you, reading the signs that tell you which way to go. 

You follow the directions on the map (yes, men do it too...we even stop and ask for help... SHOCKER..!!).

After hours of seemingly endless driving you look around and what do you see...? Your destination lies just ahead... EUREKA..!! YOU MADE IT..!!

You arrive safe and sound, no worries. But it wouldn't have happened if you gave up because you didn't get where you wanted to go as fast as you thought you should get there... (Sound familiar..??)

The same thing applies to any kind of success. You go about your business every day, doing what needs to be done consistently when you can't understand what's going on, even when things don't seem to make sense.

Don't turn to the left or the right, and don't yield to the temptation to quit when things get a bit tougher than you expected them to be.

Just stay the course, keep doing the right thing. It may take longer for you to get where you want to go, but it will take even longer if you throw in the towel.

One last thing: the best part of success comes not from what you gain, but who you become. You waste time working to get where you want to be if your mindset can't keep you there for more than a hot minute.

So when it's hard to be patient, keep doing the right thing. Stay the course. Keep your eyes on the prize, even when it seems like it's not there.

Remain steady, focused, committed. Be patient, be persistent. 

You'll arrive when you least expect it, you'll have a greater appreciation for your victory because of the challenges you overcame along the way...

...and your newly developed patience will indeed become a cherished virtue.

"...let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us..." - Hebrews 12:1 AMP

That's all for now, gotta run...

Until next time, remember:

Keep it simple... See ya!