It is just time

When we strive to improve some aspect of our life, we often find that it takes patience. While we keep doing the work, we must wait and wait for the results to appear.

This is frustrating. It is the main reason why most aren’t able to improve. We are not a very patient society and are used to having everything at our fingertips.

I’ve heard authors say that we have a microwave society. We are used to putting food in the microwave and seconds later being able to eat a warm meal. This translates to much more than food.

We use cell phones to instantly pull up information. Now with AI, we can ask almost anything and get instant results. No more searching and reaching through articles to find the insight we need. Even when something is fast, we crave faster.

It would be great if improvement was that fast. How nice would it be to exercise and instantly lose 5 pounds? That immediate result would motivate us to do it.

But life isn’t always instant. To lose weight we have to put in months of effort to see results. We have to keep on the right path before we get what we want.

We take years of courses and study for exam after exam to earn a degree. We need to spend years working for someone else to build up our career. We need to spend time listening to our significant other to build the relationship.

There is an old quote from Aristotle. He said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Even though we are exposed to instant results, we need to slow down and become patient to truly improve. We have to find a way to turn our actions into habits to translate to the excellence we crave.

Next time you are frustrated with the delay from your hard work, remember Aristotle’s quote and keep pushing. The longer you work at it the more likely you will reach the destination you crave. Don’t give up. Be patient. It is just time that stands in your way when you are doing the right things and just haven’t experienced the reward just yet.