The Importance of Patience in the Pursuit of Purpose

The Importance of Resilience in the Pursuit of Purpose
February 15, 2018
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February 17, 2018

The Importance of Patience in the Pursuit of Purpose

W

e all start with something akin of a blank canvas. At times we do not know what to paint on that canvas. We do not know the colors to use. We even do not know if what we will paint (if we dared that is) will be likeable by people. This is one of the most dangerous places to be at in life.

The Start is not equal to the Finish

  • Selection of subjects combination at school does not guarantee you a perfect career
  • At the moment of selection of a career, you are not guaranteed success
  • At the moment of falling in love and choosing to marry your sweetheart does not guarantee a blissful life
  • At the moment of choosing to go for work outs does not immediately guarantee that you will be in shape
  • At the moment of decision on your finances in terms of investments, savings and frugality does not guarantee that you will become financially free
  • At the moment that an idea is downloaded in your spirit and you start pursuing it does not guarantee its full fruition. Matter of fact, Mark Zuckerberg says that ideas do not come fully formed.

The same thing is true with your purpose. When you choose to go in a particular direction in your life, at that very moment you will not be guaranteed smooth sailing and reaching your desired destination.

Hiccups on the Road

  • There will be some disillusionment. You at times will wonder (especially in the initial stages) whether you are doing the right thing
  • There will be discouragement, especially when your vision is a far cry as compared to your reality
  • There will be self-doubt especially when friends and loved ones do not understand you.

There is only one answer to this predicament. This is what has brought us people like Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Aliko Dangote, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan. This is what has brought us organizations such as NASA in the United States, Spacex, Tesla, KFC and so on. At the time of their choosing, none of these people and organizations knew the extent of the impact that they would have in their lifetime and in the world.

Importance of Testing

The truth is that none of us knows. And right there is the problem. Why? Because we all want to have the full knowledge of how it will pan out before we can get started. Devoid of this knowledge we get so minimal heart energy to put into our purpose or our idea. Instead of seating and waiting, a friend of mine instructs me that you can go through a process of testing in order to get feedback. This feedback tells you whether you are on the right track or not.

However, even before you can get to the testing stage, you ought to have leaned in to your idea or purpose until it provides testable results. So we need two things when it comes to purpose and when it comes to our ideas. We need to have instinct to follow through with your purpose.

https://thelifesignatures.com/instinct-5-incredible-ways-it-multiplies-your-value-part-1/

The Need for Patience

But then, we also need to be extremely patient with it, knowing that we shall not get the fruit of our labor within a day.

  • God needed patience for the whole earth to be filled with His Sons and Daughters
  • God still needs patience for the above dream to be fulfilled
  • Without patience, we would never have landed a man on the moon
  • With no patience, a child will not be able to sit up, let alone learn to walk
  • It’s lack of patience that causes people to stop their pursuits and in the process, abort their dreams and purpose
  • Without patience, a parent will not raise a champion.

Obscurity Multiplied by Time

[ictt-tweet-inline]So in order to pursue your purpose in life, you need to be aware that patience is the SI Unit of its fruition.[/ictt-tweet-inline] Your greatest friend is time. Your greatest ally is obscurity. And guess what? That is the perfect environment through which your purpose will prosper.

I have two great friends that you have probably never heard their names. One of them is called Mary. The other one is called Becky. These two young girls are geniuses in the making. But at the moment, they are obscure…at least to you and not to themselves. With time, as they zero in on their purpose and as they apply patience, you will get to know about them.

https://thelifesignatures.com/t-d-jakes-discovered/

And guess what? The same applies to you. Probably, the world has never heard your name. But you have zeroed in on your purpose or an idea that at least you know matters to you. It is your application of patience that will bring you to the center stage of the world.

In the process of being patient, we need to apply the following lessons:

1. Commitment

Decide immediately what you want to pursue and get started. Do not be too careful and take eternity here. There must be some minimum requirements that an idea you cherish meets. Once it does, take off with it full blast. The idea is that you will learn in the process. Now, even if you selected the wrong thing, which is not a loss in itself. It is a serious learning curve. You probably would not have known what you know now had you not committed. Now you know one less thing that you can take on in life. And this knowledge could be more important than your university degree.

2. Resilience

Again, speed is important here. You will inevitably face lots of opposition. When you do, it is important to immediately move from a disappointment and proceed with your march. Rising up each time you fall is where your glory lies. In fact one of the greatest ingredients of patience is resilience.

3. Consistency

Obscurity works best for you when you are consistent. If you are a writer that nobody has heard about, that should not jostle you. What you need to do is to make sure that on a daily basis, you are writing something that contributes to your growth. Did you notice that “writer” is too general? There are writers of fiction or self-help. Still that is too general. But once you have zeroed in on your niche, make sure that you are as consistent as daily with it. Patience is useless if you are doing nothing towards your goal daily.

4. Learning

Fall in love with learning. When you lean in to your purpose, it is important that you get invested in learning all there is to learn about it. This kind of learning will never stop. So while you are obscure, your patience comes to the fore to the degree that you choose to use that obscurity to learn as much as possible. Again, patience is useless if you are doing nothing towards learning your purpose daily.

5. Investment

Time, sweat, blood and tears needs to be poured into your pursuit. Patience at times connotes that you will be planting all these and not seeing results immediately or apparently. But you know what that does to  you? It blends your heart to what you are pursuing. You see, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I believe that it is important to lean in to your pursuits and go for it full blast.