“Never let the desire for immediate results override wisdom, judgement and self-control because it might lead you into something that’s hard to recover from.” -Bame Bame

I have so many painful experiences that are tied to the title of this article and most of them are shared in my books. I have fallen into the wrong hands and made mistakes because I was trying to force things that didn’t fit because I wanted them to. The phrase “patience is a virtue” is such a cliché but a powerful statement. A long wait can make the wrong door look like an answer, being drained can make a costly shortcut seem reasonable and soon you stop asking “is this sensible?” and only ask “will this finally end the wait?”

Never try to rush life, my mother once said I should stop putting so much pressure on myself by setting unrealistic timelines. “I need to have that at this age, I have to be married by this time and I need to be a millionaire by the time I’m 35”. You end up forcing things and skipping stages that are necessary to get you to where you need to be. Guess what, the consequences of that are dire. My book A Better Tomorrow talks about the consequence of our actions, and the things that steal our inner peace and how we can avoid that.

I’ve seen people have a child with just anyone because they are so desperate to create a family of your own, making bad financial decisions because you are tired of poverty, speed through traffic because people are driving slowly and you end up getting into an accident. We sometimes get impatient because God’s timing seems to be taking longer than we expected. So, we end up forcing an outcome that isn’t ready yet. Patience isn’t weakness, its discipline. Someone once said “impatience will make you rush into a battle that patience would have taught you how to win.” Let that sit for a minute.

I calm mind is powerful, a peaceful mind makes better decisions. Forcing situations that need time to develop never ends well, making quick choices without considering the consequences will set you back drastically. Impatience might make us quit to early when success is just around the corner, some opportunities require time, preparation and persistence, giving up too soon can prevent us from seeing the results. I have seen that in my own life and how patience is a strategic step to succeeding in most things. So, practice patience and you will see what it can do in your life.