Patience

Do you know that the earth continuously spins at the rate of 700 to 1,038 miles per hour? That’s quite some spin!! Do you feel this spin? Are you sure you don’t feel it? Just as the earth spins on its axis and we, the people living on earth, don’t feel it, similarly the results of passion, perseverance, and patience are not always felt, at least not immediately.

Through this column, I keep encouraging you to dream, visualize, persevere, and carry on regardless of apparent realities. But the secret to success lies in carrying on, with your own convictions. We may not see the results as we work, but if we remain at it, it is bound to show up. In fact, higher we want to reach on the ladder of success, harder the process will seem. At times it can be very frustrating. Many people give up, before the results become visible. Are you one of those people? I don’t think so. You know how this system works. Don’t you?

Have you ever planted a tree, I mean a sapling? A sapling eventually grows into a tree when you water it regularly, and take care of its other needs. Can you see it growing everyday? I don’t think so. What happens when you don’t water it for a few days? Well, it just dies. Do you get the point? You need to have passion, perseverance, and patience, even for growing a tree; what to talk of ‘growing’ a grown up human being!

Yes, it is natural to feel deflated if you have not cleared any entrance exams, or if you didn’t get an interview call, or worse of all if you couldn’t convert your call into a seat. The way to combat this feeling is to put all your niggling self doubts to rest. Yes, you can do it. Give all your focus and energy to your renewed commitments. Keep re-visiting your original promise to yourself. What was your inspiration to begin with? Remember it now. That passion to invest in yourself will keep you moving forward. Your passion to do well is real. Trust it. Trust yourself. Trust the universe.

If you do that, and keep watering your sapling, you will see that the sapling will form a solid root system (the foundation of your success), soon the branches will form (your support network), and flowers will blossom. Very soon you will enjoy the fruit of this tree: your tree! Yes, the fruit of success does take its own sweet time. So eliminate ‘failure consciousness’, embrace ‘success consciousness’ and get going.

Have you ever wondered what creates ‘failure consciousness’ in the first place? Would you like to know how to step out of it? At times it so happens that we become overly entangled in our ambitions. We get wrapped up in the feeling that we do not have enough (enough money, enough job opportunities, enough growth avenues etc). This thought of ‘lack’ or ‘not enough’ sends stress chemicals to the brain. These chemicals bring about the programmed response of ‘fight or flight’.

The fight response makes you stay on but it puts unnecessary pressure on you; while the flight response makes you give up. Both of these responses don’t really help. So what is the way out? The simplest way out is to eliminate the trigger for these responses. How would you do that? You would do that by changing your thought process.
Negative thoughts deplete your energy. You already know about it. So refocus your attention upon appreciation of all your strengths and a clear evaluation of all the opportunities in your life.

It is very apt to remember what Buddha had said 2,500 years ago, ‘We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.’ This saying holds good even today, in our fast paced competitive world.

With perseverance, you will soon start feeling successful. In any case, the real measure of success does not lie in outward trappings of our world. Your real success lies in the quality and quantity of ‘success feelings’ you experience. If you remain connected to your inner core, which gives birth to your passion and makes you feel good about yourself, there is no reason to feel low. There are many people out there in this wide world, who have all that you dream of, but they do not feel ‘successful’. Patience is the track that will take you towards magnetizing success to you.

Now that you know this secret, be consistent in your efforts. Question your beliefs about success. We all have hidden beliefs that run the show behind the scenes. Say if you have a deep belief that you must work harder in order to be truly successful, then that is exactly what will become your reality.

Go deep inside. Look at your old paradigms. What is it that makes you struggle more, work harder (not smarter), get stressed, and still be less successful? What can you change in your thoughts that will bring about a paradigm shift in your life? What new empowering beliefs can you cultivate?

To begin with, start relaxing more often. Appreciate all that you have in your life. Go and have that special experience, you have always denied yourself. Enjoy your wonderful body and your creative mind (these have been freely given to you). As you learn to feel good about yourself, you will notice that each day of your life will unfold itself in successful ways.

Your outer world is a place where you discover who you are. Your successes or your failures are an exquisite reflection of what is going on ‘within’ you right now. Remember, what you focus upon grows in your life. So keep your focus upon positive thoughts of success, and watch things change in your life.

3 P’s of success: passion, perseverance, and patience must remain your constant companions on this growth path. Are you ready to walk this path with a smile on your lips and hope in your heart?

Change your focus and EXPECT success!

How many times have you become frustrated with your computer because it was moving too slowly? When was the last time you got annoyed for having to wait in line? How often have you paid extra money just to receive faster service? In today's society, we expect to get our news, information, food, and pleasures quick and easy. We have grown accustomed to a much faster pace and are impatient when we do not receive what we want exactly when we want it.

Despite our expectations, however, there are some things in life that still require patience and persistence. When it comes to accomplishing a task or achieving a goal, there will always be success stories of those who got it right the very first time they did it. But, the majority of us will have to try more than once to reach our goal. More than likely, we will have to endure the pains of waiting and refusing to accept defeat before we experience success.

When we look at people who are successful in their field, they often make success look easy. We see the rewards and benefits of their hard work, but seldom think about the sacrifices and failures they experienced to get to that level. One of the greatest basketball players of all time, Michael Jordan said: "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." The question is - how many people are willing to take 9000 shots at their goal? How many will fail 300 times and continue to get back into the game?

When I first graduated from law school, I applied for a position with the Florida Department of Children and Families. At the time, they did not have any entry level attorney positions available and told me to check back with them in the future. And, that's exactly what I did! I contacted them every two weeks, just to see if there had been any changes. I wasn't trying to be a pest, but I wanted to show my interest in the position. After about six weeks, impressed by my tenacity, they found a position for me and offered me a job. It is quite possible that I would not have been offered the job if I had not shown such determination. I exercised patience and persistence and it paid off!

The next time you feel yourself trying to hurry your success along or ready to give up on your goal, remember these three points:

1 - Time is going to pass whether you achieve your goal or not. You can come out of it having accomplished something, or you can just come out of it.

2 - You may have to wait longer and try harder than you expected to experience success. But, if you give up too soon, you are guaranteed to fail.

3 - Success is a choice. The only way you will fail is if you choose not to succeed!

Asiah Wolfolk-Manning, J.D.
Youth Motivational Speaker

Hi Friends, this is my new blog.