There has been such a radical shift in human behaviour since the advent of the digital
age that we seem to have forgotten one of humanity’s time honoured traits:
Patience. Philosophers, writers, business leaders; there
is a common belief that patience constitutes one of a small handful of key ingredients
to achieving success. Patience is predicated on a simple belief,
but a powerful one. Patience is, in a sense, the simple recognition
that things take time. That achieving greatness, creating a masterpiece — it all takes
time. It takes an ability & willingness to be frustrated. To overcome difficulties. To
persevere. Since the digital age, more specifically since
the smartphone became so ubiquitous, we have seen an attack on the time-honoured institution
of patience from two fronts: 1. Society promulgates the myth of “overnight”
success The examples of success readily available
to us through the media or through anecdote are almost always billed as being “overnight”
successes. We hear about companies like Uber, exploding
in popularity within a couple of years. We hear about the 21-year old founder now worth
over $1 billion. We hear about a teenager on The Voice reaching international stardom
in a few weeks. What we do not hear about, however, are the
years of hard work, of practice, of working in the void, with no audience & no encouragement.
What we do not hear about, in short, is the protagonist’s patience.
And thus, when we consider our own inadequacy & failure, we struggle to find the answers.
Because we expect things to happen overnight. Because we lack persistence. Because we are
impatient. 2. Our brains are being re-wired by the constant
distraction & interaction with digital devices Our attention span is now down to 8 seconds,
social media usage per day per American adult is now above 2.5 hours, we tap our phone 2,617
times a day. Social media & smart home usage is not only
a drain on time, but it also changes the very chemical make-up of the brain, which, it must
be remembered, is a malleable organ that's development is ongoing, even in adulthood.
We have trained ourselves to focus in such short bursts, to switch tasks so regularly,
to master the art of busying ourselves, that many of us are almost entirely incapable of
selecting a single goal & pursuing that goal with persistence, with patience.
And so, our time-honoured respect for patience has started to fade, to be lost to history.
And with it we have lost so much of humanity’s potential to create great works of art. The
great novels never written, the perennial films never conceived, the world-changing
companies that were never given enough time. War & Peace, arguably the greatest novel ever
written, took Tolstoy 6–8 years to conceive, to develop, to write & re-write.
That’s a man that knows the value of patience. And not just of persisting in order to write
a novel of that length & complexity. Tolstoy also clearly had a great awareness
of the nuanced outcomes of patience as well. Beyond persistence, he understood that ideas
take time to develop. That you need to write a first version to get the breakthroughs & the
insights that will make the next version exceptional. And respect to the man. He took a risk, dedicating
nearly a decade to something with no clear idea of what the novel may become or what
the finished product would look like. He just worked hard, took his time, remained patient.
And it paid off, with War & Peace being labelled the masterpiece of Russian literature by other
renowned writers of the period (and many since). Tolstoy may be an exceptional example of the
fruits borne of patience, but the lessons to take away are relevant for everyone, regardless
of your goals in life. If you want to create great work that is perennial,
then you must learn to shake off the residual belief that patience is no longer important,
that it’s had its day. Remember that the best ideas, the breakthroughs,
the masterpieces — all of them take time, they take work, they evolve & develop.
So when thinking about that next career move, that new relationship, that new business:
Bide your time & be a little more patient.