Something was brought to my attention yesterday by two people; I am not patient. I want everything there and then, and in that lies what is possibly one of my biggest failures.

I admire people who 'wait it out' and watch, carefully understanding a situation in its entirety before making a decision. Having patience often means that you have the choice of a small reward in the short-term, or a more valuable reward in the long-term, with human nature being that most of us prefer a short-term reward over a long-term reward, despite the latter reaping greater benefits.

"The patient man shows much good sense, but the quick-tempered man displays folly at its height (Proverbs 14:29, NAB)

Developing patience requires a change in your attitude about life, and the ability to learn to relax. If you treat patience as a strategy, deliberately delaying something to get a full picture of the situation, you may find work and life to be more fruitful and rewarding.

While patience use to be associated with forbearance and sufferance, now it is more seen as an active and positive cognitive state. Patience no longer connotes disempowerment, but instead power and a skill.

3 Tips on How To Be More Patient

1. Let go: whatever it is, let go and put it back in its place until you are ready to consider it in its entirety.
2. Change your attitude about life and learn to relax.
3. Always remember that you will get what you want - just focus on the big picture.

Things you need to think about to improve your patience:

• Figure out why you are in such a hurry
• Pinpoint the triggers that often influence you to lose your patience
• Look for patterns
• Write it down, keep a diary.

Let's see how I go implementing these tips!