Patience

If it were easy to be patient, and easy to do the work, then everyone would do it. What I’ve come to love about patience is that, ultimately, it’s the truest test of merit: Are you willing to do the work, despite no guaranteed outcome?

By patience, I’m not referring just to the amount of time that creation will take, but also the long view with which you evaluate your own work. And the long view can be really long. Consider all the pieces of art derided and disregarded in their own time, only to be deemed masterworks decades later.

To foster patience for yourself and those you lead, pick a speed that will get you there, and then pace yourself. Celebrate persistence over time as much as the occasional short-term wins you have along the way. Craft a culture in your project or team that values adherence to a vision and continual progress more than traditional measures of product

“Patience is not passive. On the contrary, patience is concentrated strength.”

There is nothing passive or resigned about the kind of patience that arises from this effort to resist the urge to hurry.

Persistence is patience with a plan.