What you learn today: Impatience is a byproduct of a strong fighter, what to do about it?

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For the last 3 weeks we have been in DEEP discussions at work about making a possible BIG move in the company. We’ve been in research mode which means I’ve spent countless hours on the phone and in meetings searching for the right answer.

Today, we had someone flying in from New York just to meet with us for 3 hours. My expectation?

I was looking forward to the meeting like a little boy does for Christmas. This meeting was supposed to finally provide me a yes/no answer and before 12:00 PM ET hit, it was supposed to end my mind-numbing research - I was supposed to know exactly what we were doing moving forward.

HOWEVER…

The meeting did not provide such a “hard” answer. Don’t get me wrong, it was a GREAT meeting and will likely lead to amazing things. However, the circumstances are just such, that no one really has the right answer - we have to keep exploring.

The end result of this meeting was that the individual who flew down can open new channels for us to continue doing our research (grrrrr)…

One of my “problems” is that I am impatient as heck, I want everything answered/resolved NOW. If it’s on my mind, I want it done. This has been great in some cases and very problematic in others.

I’m learning to increase may patience, because my impatient attitude really KILLS my ability to negotiate in business and it also has a tendency to drive others around me a bit crazy.

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What To Do?

1. No expectations - In my example, I should have never had specific “expectations” from the meeting. Again, remember, the meeting was awesome. The person who flew down is very generous, smart and will help me in many ways.

It’s just, this was the first meeting of it’s kind for me, I didn’t realize that they are not supposed to “decide” anything.

2. Sit on your hands - Not literally (although you can). Basically FORCE yourself, challenge yourself to LET IT GO for at least 24 hours before you bring it up again.

THIS exercise has really helped me. It’s like training for a marathon, you run 1 mile the first day, then 1.5 miles, then 2, etc…

3. Stay busy - The easiest way to NOT dwell on something is to have something else more or equally important distract you.

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Alright, so one of my biggest weaknesses is “impatience” - what about you?

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What You’re About To Learn: There is some truth to the old saying “don’t re-invent the wheel…”
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I’m not sure what happened to me the last year, whether I’ve gotten a big more arrogant or I just feel “that” much smarter than everyone - but, I’ve spent a lot of time and headache trying to do things MY way.

These are the same things that others do a different way, not just a few, but ALL my friends. Of course, they’re also very successful at it.

However, still for some reason, I looked down my nose at many of them and thought “I” can do it better. Well, many headaches later, I think I’ve had an embarassing and humbling moment.

Don’t Re-invent The Wheel…

Please, if you do nothing else, do things the way they work. At least when you’re first starting something. Do it the way it’s been done, the proven way. Once you’ve proven yourself and bought some room for wiggle, feel free to try anything you want.

Bottomline, stick to the basics, sometimes creativity is not great in the beginning, but can be the difference at the right time.

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