Patience is one of the most valuable virtues propounded by various religions, for years together now. In Quran, Patience has been described as one of the most indispensible virtues of life. Muslims believe that, through patience, an individual can grow closer to the Almighty Allah and thus attain true inner peace. It is also stressed in Islam, that Allah is with those who are patient, more specifically during sufferings.
Let’s now talk about other eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. Both, Hinduism and Buddhism, place a great deal of emphasis on meditation and yoga which is believed to help an individual integrate his mind and soul, which ultimately helps an individual attain “Akhand Ananda” or true bliss. Patience is described as one of the most important and indispensable factors for the growth and development at any stage.
Coming to Judaism and Christianity… Patience and fortitude are prominent themes in Judaism. The Talmud extols patience as an important personal trait. In the Hebrew Torah, patience is referred to in several proverbs.
Increasing patience is viewed as the work of the Holy Ghost in the Christians who have accepted the gift of salvation. It is one of the seven virtues, alongside chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, and humility.
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” Saint Augustine
Sounds too idealistic! Isn’t it? The real question that arises in today’s highly competitive scenario is - Can we really afford to be patient? Ah C’mon! Life is hardly like a life now… It’s a Race! If you’re not quick, you’ll have to experience a failure! It’s like asking a person who has participated in a race to run slowly! Can you manage winning a race with patience? The answer is a BIG YES… This is exactly where most misinterpret the meaning of patience! Patience means maintaining the state of endurance in difficult and competitive situations. It does not necessarily mean doing things slowly. So you can still be quick while you’re patient, but just means ensuring that you are not doing things haphazardly.
Now we will look at the importance of patience from two perspectives – importance of patience in our day-to-day lives and importance of patience in the corporate world.
Patience is something which will help an individual stand up after s/he has had the greatest fall in life. Patience gives an individual the courage and determination to walk towards the goal irrespective of the failures experienced in life. People who are impatient give up easily and are ultimately the victims of depression, and mostly if not always, they blame their destiny without even realizing that they themselves are the culprit.
We can look at patience as a long term process. Patience ensures that an individual achieves the long term goal, even if it means facing difficulties and failures in the process. What you need to understand is that you have to stand up each time you fall down; improve yourself and your plans continuously till the desired goal is achieved.
In evolutionary psychology and in cognitive neuroscience, patience is studied as a decision-making problem involving the choice of either a small reward in a short span of time, or a more valuable reward after a long period of time. Patience is very important when it comes to making crucial decision related to life. Any wrong decision can lead to a chaotic situation in a person’s life. It is equally important in the corporate world.
Decision making, as we know, is the heart of businesses. The success of any business depends on the decision making ability of the concerned individuals. Any wrong decisions can prove to be detrimental for the company. Patience ensures that the concerned individuals take into perspective all the angles and possible outcomes of the decision so taken.
I’d come across a person who wanted to make an innovative product- spectacles with camera. The product most definitely is innovative, but deep thinking can give you the answer that it can never be successful. You are not allowed to take cameras inside exam rooms, some temples and various other places. Companies hastily taking decision without conducting MR are more prone to failure. Hence, an impatient decision maker is actually undertaking more risk. We, undoubtedly, have to thrive in this highly competitive corporate world but decisions taken haphazardly can actually work negatively.
Last but not the least, you must have the patience to wait for the correct opportunity and time to come and knock at your door. You’ll always find one- sooner or later! Like for instance, if you’re an entrepreneur trying to enter into a highly competitive market, you will, most definitely, not be able to enjoy a sizeable amount of market share initially. But if you’re adamant that you want to enjoy the lion’s share, you need to be patient. Don’t forget that your competitors enjoy both, goodwill in the marketplace and customer loyalty, because they’ve been in that business for a couple of years. And drawing such loyal customers towards your product is a time consuming process. And then, expertise and customer loyalty is something which builds over time. So patience is inevitable. As they say, a man who is the master of patience is the master of everything else.
Patience was, is and will always be one of the most important virtues of life. Patience will ensure that victory entwines its wings around you in the long run. Patience is a mechanism which will help you metamorphose your vision about life into a reality. Life is a long race and failures are part and parcel of life. Nothing is permanent! Just be PATIENT and things will fall in place!!
“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
- Benjamin Franklin
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