Patience.

Each time that I jot some notes here, I try to make sure that it is a form of discovery for me. Not so much that the writing is a source of discovery, but that the process of communicating the ideas helps me to organize whatever it is that my mind is whirring about with.

Today's thought is patience. It does not seem to make much of a difference what the subject matter is. Whatever your goal is, the end result will be much more satisfactory if you treat it with some patience.

I am living proof of a person's capacity to get a lot of work done in a very short amount of time. My biggest character flaw however, has been a lack of patience. Most people that I know can tell you a story about something that I have been involved with that turned out well, but could have been even better if i had "just spent a little more time."

Patience. I worked on three separate projects today. All three of them turned out very well in my opinion, but could have been just average. Today I had patience. What was the difference from my usual get it done attitude?

Job one: Foose's window tint. I am by no means a window tinting expert. But I've done enough of it in the past to have learned patience the hard way. I would say I managed to pull off a semi-professional quality job on the windows today due to my own capacity for patience. Why? Not my car, and I wanted it to be perfect. It will be close once it cures.

Job two: Mrs. Onslager's Driveway. Our across-the-street neighbor has a gravel drive that was sort of washed out by storm water. My other neighbor, we'll call him the Iowan, we haven't introduced him yet, brought his skid steer home yesterday so that I could gather up some gravel and re-grade the driveway with it. Again, I exercised some patience with the equipment, and the result looks fantastic.

Job three: My own kids. Likely enough said. I tend to find that even when you are frustrated by the fact that your kids have the attention span of a flashbulb, exercising a little patience really will change the frustration to enjoyment of your time with them.

As I set about examining this idea today, I sort of found that it applies to most areas of life. Those people who are most financially stable seem to also be the ones who are most patient in their quest to acquire the things they want to own. Those who are revered as skilled craftsmen are also know for being nit-picky, which is just another word for patient. Those who practice a craft to perfection have exercised the p-word with one particular skill set to the point where us mere mortals may have become bored. Other places for extreme patience; Hunters, Carpenters, Masons, etc.

There do not seem to be areas in life which do not lend themselves well to the idea. I dare you to find a situation in which the quality of the result is not due to exercising the skill either in using or learning the process. Basketball players move very quickly and make very fast decisions. Without patience however, they do not spend the endless hours practicing, running drills, working out, losing games, etc, that get them to the top levels. It takes ALMOST A DECADE of school before you get to call yourself a doctor.

The very idea of continuing to work at something in spite of failure is a perfect example.

I am told, as I recall, that Thomas Edison failed to create a light bulb somewhere around 500 times before he didn't need a candle anymore. You have all used WD40. Ever wonder what it stands for? Water Displacement, 40th try. Patience.

In this day and age, most of us have the good fortune to be able to expect to live a good, healthy, and most importantly, long life. As you look at the things that you are doing, remember to take your time, know that you don't have to get it done right this minute, and most importantly, exercise patience.

In the words of Hootie ( sorry Mr. Rucker, you'll always be Hootie to me.... ) "It wont be like this for long...."