Patience Is A Season Of Productivity Not Idleness!

Patience is a season of productivity, not idleness! All to often, when we hear the words “be patient”, we think to ourselves, “I just gotta relax and take it easy for a bit…then ‘it’ will happen”! That thought process couldn’t be farther from the truth.

While Moses and his people were in the wilderness patiently waiting for God to do mighty things, they weren’t reclining under a tree munching on manna and chillin’! While Paul was patiently waiting for Christ’s return, he wasn’t sippin’ tea in the warm springs of Hierapolis! While Henry Ford was patiently waiting for investors to buy into his little “car production idea”, he wasn’t drinking bourbon and smoking old stogies down at the club. While Elon Musk was patiently waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to give him the “Go/No Go” for his first launch of a Space-X spacecraft into the vastness of space, he wasn’t relaxing next to the pool waiting for the phone to ring. NO…these men were busting their butts, working hard at whatever they did best…all the while knowing that their hard work and effort would eventually pay off.

Moses and Paul continued to relate the awesomeness of God and His plan for His people to anyone who would listen WHILE THEY PATIENTLY WAITED. Henry Ford continued to make his car designs better and he continued to perfect the car manufacturing process (hello assembly line) WHILE HE PATIENTLY WAITED. And Elon…he continued to test rockets, double check data and figures, finetuned the rocket launch and landing process, oh…and built an empire…WHILE HE PATIENTLY WAITED!

I think a lot of us, myself included, get to a place where we need to be patient, and because there’s no visible progress toward our goal or project completion, we get lazy and start focusing on other things. This has plagued me for decades. I would get a great idea into my head, start it, and then when I got to a point where I had to wait (patiently), I moved on to the next (completely different) idea. I have A.D.D….BUT, at the end of the day, that’s not an excuse. I lacked follow-through. Then one day…CLICK!

When I finally decided I wanted to lose weight, I knew I had to come to terms with the whole being able to wait patiently thang! I knew if I started a program (any program) that I would quit as soon as I realized the process was going slower than I anticipated. That’s when I started researching patience. Throughout the bible there are tons of examples of where people (whole nations) had to patiently wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled. Throughout history, there have been great men and women who have had amazing ideas, and they had to practice patience while they waited for those ideas to come to fruition. HOW ON EARTH DID THEY DO IT? Simple. They kept busy.

When we are in the middle of chasing our dreams, we tend to focus on the outcome. Which we should…but maybe not to the extent that we do. I mean, the end result is crucial, but there is a lot that can (and needs to) happen between the conception of an task (weight loss, business endeavor, product invention, book concept, song writing project, etc.) and the completion of a task. As I researched successful people, I learned that as they waited patiently, they were still “busy doing”. In some cases, while patiently waiting, they improved the original concept or idea making a good endeavor a great endeavor. This waiting time is a great time to explore processes within the overall scale of the project. In all we do, we really need to have our processes down pat. They should be easily explainable, scalable, and they should be a roadmap that shows others how we get from point A to point B, C, and even Z…the end result.

During this valuable waiting period, we can work on marketing strategies if we’re pursuing a business idea and we’re patiently waiting on investors, partners, and outside resources to join in on the endeavor. We can research and try new exercises if we are chasing our fitness goals and patiently waiting on hitting our goal weight. We can even tweak recipes we’re working on if we are trying to market a food product while waiting for FDA and State regulations to give us the “Go/No Go”. There are things we can do that will add to the success we’ll have once the powers that be smile upon our efforts.

That is honestly HOW I managed to succeed THIS TIME! I realized that patience truly is virtue (a high standard)…AND it’s a virtue that we all need to learn to harness IF we’re going to have any form of success in the goals we set, businesses we launch, and endeavors we set out to complete. From the moment I began the 75 Hard Program, I understood that this attempt at living healthy was unlike any attempt I had made in the past. This time, I was going to put my head down and bust my butt EVEN WHEN I COULDN’T SEE RESULTS. That’s one reason I chose, and still choose, to weigh once a week…and not daily. I understand that just because I don’t see weight falling off, I’m still getting healthier. Just because the scale shows that I’ve not lost any weight, my clothes are fitting looser, my breathing is getting better, my blood pressure is going down, my diabetes is getting under control, and my mental state is stronger than it’s ever been. All of these things let me know that the work I’m doing is paying off…even if the end result is nowhere in sight. I gotta keep working hard. No compromises.

The beautiful thing is…this strategy for getting physically fit has spilled over into other areas of my life. I’ve got all kinds of dreams that I’ve neglected because it was “taking too long” and I was not willing to be patient. So I’m thoughtfully going back through those ideas and fleshing out how I can use a “patiently waiting mindset” to bring those dreams back to life and grow them into fruition. I understand it takes time…and hard work. I’m ready, willing, and able…at least…more ready, willing, and able than I’ve ever been.

Bottom line, DON’T GET LAZY AND/OR COMPLACENT! There’s always something we can be doing that will bring value to our overall goal(s). Don’t be afraid to “do more”. As I work on my healthy lifestyle journey, I keep running into the phrase, “One More!” In other words, when you think you’ve done enough (or you’re waiting patiently for the next stage of your endeavor) do one more rep. Add even more value to the process and progress. Every extra thing you can do only makes your dream stronger and more impacting to yourself…and others.

We got this people! It’s a lifestyle change! Us becoming better is a lifelong endeavor that takes time…it’s not an overnight success story. That only happens in the movies. True “overnight successes” take years to come to fruition. So when you find yourself in a season of “patiently waiting”, understand that it’s a season of productivity…not idleness. Keep your nose to the grindstone…and “do one more”!

~Mitch