Blueprint >> Be Patient

Disclaimer: This document is in raw form as I process and distill 4 years-worth of my personal development notes. Expect some typos and cryptic language for now. I will be updating frequently and polishing up.

Prescription: Be more patient with important life goals.
Related Concepts: Normalize Expectations, Goal-setting, Write Manifestos, Mastery, 10,000 Hours, Kaizen

What is Patience?

The idea that you need to have massive patience when pursuing large life goals. There is a tendency to expect too much too fast.

Why is it Important?

If you lack patience, like most of us do, then you will doubt yourself and quit projects prematurely, leaving a lot of success on the table. Just understanding that big things take lots of time can make you feel much better about your current situation.

Be Patient Videos

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Be Patient: Key Points

Learn to be patient. Sometimes the only thing that leads you to self-doubt and quitting, is expecting something grand to happen too fast. The mind is very bad at working with large numbers and planning in time-scales of years. Even if you logically know that a project should take 2 years to complete, you will tend to stress about not seeing it progress faster. The mind finds it difficult to see how all the baby-steps you're taking every day over the span of 2 years will add up to the final result.

Understand that progress doesn't come linearly. If you're undertaking mastery, you already know that progress comes in spikes. If you're working on a big project, realize that starting up the project is often the hardest part and takes up a disproportionate amount of time. Once you get your bearings straight, create a plan, and up build macro-momentum, you will be shocked how quickly the results come.

The level of patience you afford a project should be proportional to how meaningful and significant the result will be once realized. So, if the book you're writing has the potential to change the world, don't get too frustrated if it takes you 2 years to write instead of 1.

Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law."

References

1. Godel, Escher, and Bach, Douglas Hofstadter