W

e live in a world that is so fast paced. When you find someone screaming at a microwave to “hurry up”, you will understand what I am talking about. Seldom do we let things to simmer. We want to invest to day and get 25% return on our principal tomorrow. And you know what? Con artists know it. They understand that people are not using mental toughness in their quest for “wealth and gain”. They are using greed and fear.

• Do you know why you will see throngs of people dumping their money in one venture even after the previous one cost them?
• Do you know why people by the droves move from one “man of God” to another each day?
• Do you know why people seek “supernatural powers” on things that need them to think?
• Do you know why people resort to prayers overnight for respite on day to day challenges (I am not talking about extreme crises where we need Divine intervention)

Impatience and Mental Toughness

I will tell you why. It is because people are impatient. Perhaps the greatest impediment to success of any form is impatience. It causes people to want to have the growth but not to respect the process. There is no way you will get sustained success in anything without honoring the process. Obtaining of mental toughness is also through a process. The thing with process is that it definitely involves time. If you will attain it, you will have to be patient. Farmers are patient. Perhaps they know seasons and times and that’s why they will sleep soundly when the seeds are not sprouting…yet. We ought to learn from them.

The Brain

My brain and yours are incredible. Part of the function of the brain is to protect us from anything foreign. Pain is a foreign thing. The thing that your brain is looking out for is your total, absolute comfort. If there is anything outside of the norm that directly disturbs your comfort, the brain goes on an overdrive to rectify the situation so as to bring back the status quo. [ictt-tweet-inline]The paradox of life though is that growth and development are seldom done in the comfort zone. In other words, if you want comfort, the route towards it is through discomfort.[/ictt-tweet-inline] It follows therefore that the degree to which we will be comfortable with being uncomfortable will determine how much we shall develop our mental toughness. In other words, you and I ought to be aware of these brain games and take them as they come, choosing to be patient through the “pain”

Related Subject: Why is God So Particular About Preparation?

The Anatomy of Patience

There is no doubt that mental toughness is smack in the middle of patience. If not, patience is a contributory factor to your mental toughness. You can either be forced to be patient and your mental toughness develops or you can choose to be patient because you are mentally tough. Either way, patience is a conscious and active process that is shrouded in discomfort. In other words, the prevailing situation that causes you to be patient is not necessarily the desired situation. The only beautiful thing about that situation is your mindset. You know that the prevailing situation is a process towards that which you desire.[ictt-tweet-inline] The higher the degree of your patience, the better the results you are seeking for mental toughness or just about any kind of growth. [/ictt-tweet-inline]Discomfort, time, knowledge of why as well as the desired end of the process is the anatomy of patience.

Importance of Patience in Mental Toughness

[ictt-tweet-inline]Let’s face it: if you are impatient, you are seldom going to grow. Nothing of quality, excellence and value comes out of impatience.[/ictt-tweet-inline] There is no way you will develop mental toughness if you are impatience. If anything, the greatest destroyer of mental toughness is impatience. The following are the reasons why patience is important in developing mental toughness.

1. Growth is in Micro Units

In the 7 years that he has been alive, I have never seen my son grow and yet each days he is bigger than he was. At times, we like to identify ourselves with things that are visibly growing. That is why we have graphs at least to show us the growth. Well, graphs are historical for they do not show growth in the moment. [ictt-tweet-inline]And there is the secret of patience. At that moment that you are feeling uncomfortable, that is the moment of growth.[/ictt-tweet-inline] You might look at yourself in the bathroom mirror after a gym session and see nothing added, but that does not mean that you added nothing. For the most part all manner of growth, and especially mental toughness is in micro units. It is invisible to the eye, but pretty much visible in the spiritual realm. So be patient with what you are doing. Keep doing it even if you see no tangible results. Keep writing. Keep working. Keep reaching out. Keep thinking. Stay patient.

2. Patience Creates Consistency

In a gym session last Monday, I looked as if I was all spent. A gym mate commented that I looked finished and I acknowledged that I was feeling that way too. Then he went on and told me something that I have been preaching to myself all these years: “All the stuff people are saying about how much weight you are lifting or how much work you are putting in is incorrect. The most important thing here is that you are consistent” He was preaching to the converted. It is patience that will help you to gain that consistency.

3. Patience is Key to Conditioning.

At one point in time, the information on the right side of the brain (new information)will have to be transferred to the left side of the brain. When that happens, you become “unconsciously competent”. That means that you do not have to do any thinking to execute. An example is the routine thing you do when you wake up in the morning. You have become so conditioned that you do not have to think about it. This is the ultimate reason why patience is important to you. If you would know that being patient will make you conditioned over time, then being patient becomes easy to do.

4. Helps Maintain Focus and Hit Targets

[ictt-tweet-inline]Patience simply means bearing the cost in the moment for as long as possible in order to accomplish a desired result.[/ictt-tweet-inline] Broken focus is the ingredient for failure. The world today needs more finishers. It is easy for many people to start. Unfortunately, finishing is always a myth for a big percentage of those who start. That’s where patience comes in. Each moment of patience gets you closer and closer to your goal, until it is done.

All in all, if you ever wanted to grow in your mental toughness (and you really should), patience is one of the ingredients that you need.