Patience is an easy word to say, it slips off the tongue with a gentle lilt, and softens at the end.
As high-performing women, executives, entrepreneurs, and investors within the GoBundance community, we are hardwired for speed, progression, and immediate results.
Impatience looms over us like a raincloud ready to thunder and downpour.
Whether we’re standing in line at a cafe or waiting for a big deal to close, impatience ebbs and flows at our senses far too easily. Historically, we have viewed this impatience as a badge of honor; a necessary byproduct of survival. We convince ourselves that our unwillingness to wait is the very engine fueling our success.
But we forget that patience is waiting for us to recognize her, umbrella out.
When we live in a state of constant urgency, there is no trust or belief that things will unfold as they should. This impatience causes deep suffering and chronic anxiousness, though it’s something we can actively overcome with mindfulness.
The first steps? Accept that little is in our true control, and learn to let go.
Why We Fight Time
Impatience does not stem from our highest, most strategic selves. It comes from our ego.
The ego values time above all else, but views it through a lens of lack, seeing time as a scarce commodity. It wants things for you exactly when you want them. If we were doing action-packed, purposeful things while waiting for whatever we are impatient for, the pause would be less difficult. But unfortunately, most of us get locked in a head game when things slow down.
We tend to find the “slow down” uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel like progress, because it isn’t immediate or urgent.
Think about it: when you are stuck in traffic or waiting in a long line at Starbucks, what is actually causing you discomfort? It isn't the physical act of waiting. Sitting in a stationary car or standing on a tiled floor does not inherently inflict pain. It is our thoughts about waiting that are uncomfortable, not the actual waiting itself.
We become resistant, fighting a reality we cannot change. When we operate from this headspace, we aren't driving our businesses forward, we’re simply burning clean energy on friction.
By letting go of time, we can drastically increase the joy in our lives. This doesn’t mean you let go of the actionable items you have prioritized and planned. It simply means you let go of the speed at which things outside of your control happen.
The True Cost of Speed & Its Impact Across the Pillars
We see the cost of impatience all around us every single day: horns honking, fingers flipping, smiles drooping, and people suffering, all because things aren't going the exact way they wanted them to. In the GoBundance Women ecosystem, we measure success through holistic buckets. When we analyze impatience through these lenses, the cracks in the "speed at all costs" mentality become glaringly obvious.
Business and Leadership: The Pressure Cooker Effect
In the business world, impatience is frequently treated as a top driving value. The speed at which you do things matters, so we often project this urgent timeline onto other situations and people. A boss or a leader who operates this way pushes their team constantly, meeting them with perpetual disappointment.
This demand for things to move faster causes immense operational and cultural issues. The quality of work is often compromised because of the intense pressure the employee feels. Furthermore, too many employees end up feeling like they are never enough, simply because they can never get things done fast enough to please their superiors.
It’s become a bit of an unspoken rule that as a boss or leader, you’ll be on a trajectory to act from a place of scarcity and impatience. This can have a domino effect in professional or other relationships, causing people to walk on eggshells around you.
The Silent Killer of Physical and Emotional Health
Stress is devastating to our physical and emotional health. Today, we see powerful, highly successful business people dropping like flies from heart disease, strokes, alcoholism, or other addictions.
We cannot forever tolerate the breakneck speed at which so many people and companies operate. Our bodies were not designed to handle a perpetual state of urgency, and the toxic coping mechanisms we use to numb the pressure only compound the damage. It is vital that we see this clearly so we can make a genuine difference in our own well-being.
Procrastination as a Teacher
Life has a beautiful, ironic way of keeping us humble. Impatient people and procrastinators seem to be brought together constantly, acting just like a student and a teacher.
Have you ever looked at all of this as a gift rather than a burden? Have you ever considered why, when you are already frazzled and panicked, life seems to make it even worse? For example, you are running late and suddenly you can’t find your keys, or the barista is taking forever with your order.
Instead of getting angry, take a real inventory of your impatience. Look at how life has continuously been bringing you opportunities to realize how silly it is to fight the present moment. When we lose our patience with predictable triggers, like the speed at which our kids pick things up or how fast our partner helps us around the house, we shatter the peace of our relationships.
The Strategic Pivot: Slowing Down to Speed Up
When we let go of impatience, we don’t suddenly become some mellow, laid-back person we don’t even recognize. Instead, we simply become less anxious. We become more equipped and calm when things take longer than they should. We become truly present and able to enjoy life.
The Forrest Gump Realization
Think about the movie Forrest Gump. He runs across the country for years, completely consumed by movement, and then suddenly, he just stops walking. That is exactly what we all need to do when we realize that the frantic rushing is all for naught.
Life is about slowing down to smell the roses, after all, you'd likely miss them if they weren't there for you to stop and smell.
The beauty of the present moment is instantly shattered when we don't think things are happening fast enough. We set ourselves up daily for frustration by failing to manage our time or waiting until the last minute to get things done. This procrastination creates an intense inner pressure, which we then project onto others, or inject into ourselves, because we don't think we have enough time. If they aren't fast enough, we get triggered. It is a vicious, exhausting cycle that affects us all.
Reclaiming Your Margin This Week
To break this cycle, we should stop multi-tasking and manage our real priorities better so there is nothing to grow impatient over. When we show up fully prepared and plan with realistic margins, we remove the friction that sparks our internal triggers.
You can choose to make patience a top driving value without losing your competitive edge. The drive you have to accomplish big things is glorious and beautiful, but the ultimate mastery is learning to do it with patience.
Slow down this week, stop racing against reality, and give yourself permission to walk instead of run. Take accountability by joining GoBundance Women today: you'll find that when you stop fighting time, your leadership, your health, and your relationships will finally have the room they need to thrive.