Patience Is Bitter, but Its Fruit Is Sweet

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How do I start a successful business? Hustle!

How do I get it from point A to B? Hustle!

How do I grow my start-up? Hustle! 

How do I become successful? Hustle!

Sound familiar? Hustle seems to be the cure for all our business problems in this entrepreneur era. It is conditioned in today’s age that if you are not hustling, then you are either failing or falling behind. Some of the most popular and successful influencers can be heard screaming this from the rooftops, asserting that you are not where you are because you are not hustling enough. Living in an instant gratification world these days, it can sometimes feel like that, but hustle is not always the formula to be where you want in life. We have adopted the belief that with more hustle comes the desired result. Waiting is hard to do in our day and age; it seems that no matter who you run into it’s:

• Why wait for the movie to hit theaters? Stream it!
• Why date for years? Let’s move in together now!
• Why wait to know each other? Give me sex!
• Why wait for my life to be successful? I want it now!
• Why wait to have fun? I want to turn up now!

We desire everything right now! Delayed gratification is a lost art. Some things just take time no matter how much hustle you put into it. We are making ourselves miserable until we get the desired result when the desired result is years away. Just look at some of the most beautiful things of life that takes time no matter how much hustle you sprinkle on them.

• A woman holding a baby in her womb for 9 months.
• Watching a child grow up.
• Starting something you love for the first time vs. where you are now.
• A relationship.
• Acquiring wisdom.
• Time.
• Life itself.

Understand? Hustle is effete when dealing with the list mentioned above, so why do we think business is any different? A business that just launched can not make a million dollars in three days. That’s like a woman trying to speed up her pregnancy; there is a reason a baby must stay in the womb 9 months. You can’t be a brand like Nike when your brand just launched; things take time and diligence. In fact, many are truly unaware of how long some of the top brands have actually been around. Nike started in 1964, Samsung in 1938, Sony in 1946, and Target? Are you ready for this? 1902. These top brands have been around for decades, while some even a century.

Hustle can’t replace development. Some of the most iconic brands took years to accomplish their ubiquitous nature. So why do we believe we can achieve it in a couple days or months?

This is not to disparage any lofty goals or visions, but there does come a time where we have to see things how they really are. Can we speed up our children’s infancy to adolescence? No. So, how can we become a recognizable brand in a matter of months? Patience. Jean-Jacques Rousseau said it best: “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

Why? The journey is often difficult, prolonged, and requires endurance. If we are able to hang on until we get there, it is sweet. It eradicates everything we have been through, making us appreciate the goal that much more. It is very important that we all go through our problems and difficulties with patience because it builds endurance. Endurance over time builds character.

Have you ever met someone that seemed to have an aura about them? You just could not put your hands on it, but you knew, whatever it was, it was good? It is most likely that the individual has been through and overcome many difficult trials and problems in their life.

What you are feeling is the meekness that dwells with the individual. They are appreciative of where they are today and, let me tell you, the only way to have this character and aura with you is to go through things.

If everyone chooses to run, stay!

If everyone chooses to stop and look over the cliff, jump!

If everyone chooses to retreat, stampede!

If everyone chooses to rush, slow down!

Patience is a beautiful thing if you master it. Can I share my story, can I do that? One day, I was up late at night thinking about how I could improve my patience. What’s interesting is that I wasn’t an impatient individual to begin with. The thing is I felt that I could still improve even though nothing was wrong. I mused day and night about how I could improve my patience purposefully. Finally, I decided to think of the worst situations that we humans absolutely hate.

Traffic, long lines, and waiting for food. Check this out: I visited a grocery store for an entire year and proceeded to get into the longest line on food stamp day with one item in my hand. You can imagine how difficult it is to sit there with one pack of starburst or skittles in your hand and seeing people with two to three carts filled with food and nearly falling out of their cart. Many had empathetic looks on their face and endearingly asked if I wanted to skip them in line.

I always replied, “No, it’s ok, I am teaching myself something.” Here is the interesting point: in the beginning, this was tough. I won’t pretend that it wasn’t, especially on days that you are tired or just getting off work and want to get in and out. Like a good soldier, I remained diligent and persistent in my approach to improve my patience. I did end up accomplishing my desire, and I have to share the results of what it did for me. Traffic, long lines, and waiting for food has never been more appeasing in my entire life. These annoyances have zero effect on me now, and that has exuded more throughout my life. It takes a tower of things to get me annoyed or even piqued.

I could not be any happier with how this has changed my life. My natural and most common state is peace of mind. Even in hectic situations, my demeanor is calm. Close confidants who know me can vouch for this. It is ok to be patient. It is ok to wait. It is ok if you are not where you want to be in life just yet.

Take the long way home from work. Go down a busy intersection. Don’t jump in a self-checkout line. Cook instead of ordering out. Let strangers cut you in line. Sit down and read a book instead of turning on the television. These are temporary frustrations; if controlled, they can significantly produce grander, lasting effects in many areas of your life.

As we enter another year, let us never forget that development is not a hustle; it’s a process and journey. Believe it or not, patience is not what we believe it to be. Check it out:

Patience. [pey-shuhns] noun. 1. The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

This means delay, trouble, and problems will all be present on your journey. Nowhere does it state a length of time. So hustle is futile in this situation.  

Here’s to another year! Cheers!