Patience is the Key to Success

You most likely heard the saying ‘Patience is the Key to Success’ which is practiced irrelevant to the social, religious, ethnic, gender or any other factors that differentiate people. One who’s patient tends to be happier according to some scientific studies which are linked to why older people tend to be happier.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, patience is defined as “the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed” where any person would have experienced these emotions.

But in high school, teachers emphasised being patience is taking your time, for instance, use the whole time set during an exam so you could thoroughly answer all the questions to the best of your ability or when moving from one place to another, take your time so this will not cause any disruptions or accidents.

Therefore, there was a recurring theme I experienced with patience in high school which was take the time to think before you act. This meant take myself out of that moment in time and view my actions whether they are justified or not. This allowed me to control my anger to an extent but this was only the peak of the iceberg about the teaching of patience.

There are countless research and scholarly articles on patience and the benefits it has on a person’s mental and physical state which is not taught properly in high school at least when I attended not long ago. Probably due to the fact, a child would not have the mental readiness to understand the situation they are in plus they probably despise listening to another lecture, therefore, it’s better to show than tell.

When I was faced with a problem as a child, either in a game or a real-life situation, I would usually find the easiest route to the solution but if I can’t, I would give up. However, my attitude change over the years, instead of giving up, I kept on trying even if it meant leaving my comfort zone for example when forced to do a math equation in front of the class that I got it wrong at first, I kept on trying.

However, there is a difference between being patient and wasting your time. Just waiting for an opportunity instead of working towards it is procrastination which is a serious problem that many people have especially amongst university students because they are given the freedom to use their time as they want. Hence, instead of completing an assignment or

Being patient with people is by far one of the most difficult things to do because not only you are investing the precious time you have in them, the end result could leave you disappointed. On the other hand, being patient with them could lead to a long-lasting healthier relationship but this does not mean you should be patient in a toxic relationship.

The most difficult aspect of being patient is with yourself. No one is perfect and everyone does mistakes which is why being patient with yourself could lead to success. This means no matter what difficulties you face, you should keep on trying to succeed.

By Kaled Ahmed Abdi