Urgency and Patience: The Perfect Couple

Be urgent in an attempt to change your diet, but patient enough to wait for results. 

Be urgent to apologize to a hurt loved one, but be patient as they attempt to forgive.

Be urgent in your pursuit of your passion or dream job, but patient in the process.

The balance of urgency and patience can be hard to master, but it’s hard to ignore its importance. If you rely too heavily on either trait, you’re sure to meet frustration. 

Low Patience, High Urgency

Have you ever been to the gym on January 1st?

Well I have, and from now on that will strategically be my rest day of the first week of the New Year. People from all walks of life crowd the weight room and the cardio equipment ready to make big changes. 

“This will be the year, I can feel it!”

They’re all ready and urgent in their quest to get their health and fitness back in order. New year, new you, as they say (hell, I’ve said it before, too. It happens). I’ve never seen so many people committed to their fitness! Unfortunately, though, there’s quite the drop off rate in gym attendance after the dust of the new year has settled. 

Most of these people lack the patience that is imperative to pair with their urgent will to get fit. The results aren’t going to come right away, and that should be expected. What also should be expected is that with a lot of hard work and will power, over time the results that are sought will rain down. But without patience, and the ability to play the waiting game, people tend to jump ship. 

This isn’t just in health and fitness. This happens in every area of life. Someone starts a blog, but gives it up because they didn’t have 1000 hits a day right away. Someone starts a new job, but walks away from it because they didn’t get promoted fast enough. Someone enters in a new relationship, but ends it at the first bump in the road. These people are urgent in the beginning of the process, but aren’t willing to see it through. 

Low Urgency, High Patience

Unfortunately, this combination of urgency and patience can have individuals passed over in the workplace, in their love lives, etc. There’s no particular spark in this type of person to get things going in their lives, but they have patience with their fairly average process. 

“That’s alright, I’ll wait for the next promotion.”

“That’s really okay. I know I should’ve asked you out when you single and I had the chance, but I’m glad that you’re happy now.”

Patience is a virtue (from what I hear), but don’t let that swallow you up in inaction. Mix in some urgency and you’d be much better off.

Find The Balance

It’s hard to say which of the two traits is more important, because they really do complement each other well. They’re both necessary to live a life well lived, and balancing two can bring immense success. I think a good course of action is to identify which one you’re more natural at, and make a point to work hard on the opposite. Whichever trait brings you more out of your comfort zone, that’s the one you need to consciously implement every day.
Which are you more natural at? 

Do you feel that you have found a balance between them? 

Share out in the comments!