A Bit of a Story
What We Deliver
Special Projects
The Shop
Contact

I have been pondering Patience a bit of late.  Last week, I shared on Patiently Something Fierce. I suggest it a worthy little read, with links.  That being said, I am pondering the strategic application of Patience.

Patience is a powerful strength of character in moving forward and facing the future.  Patience is not simply biting our tongue or holding our breath.  It is a knowing that we will get there; wherever there might be.  Water is patient.  It gets where it needs to go, eventually, despite blocks and dams and obstacles.  It will find a way.  Sometimes it will roar and rush.  Sometimes it will flow, or even trickle.  Sometimes even, it will seem stagnant but it is either evaporating or seeping into the water table.  Either way, it will get where it is going.  It is Patience, as strength.  Much of nature knows this too.  Do the work, and inherently trust in the outcome.

I saw this same quality in Chris Ballard, GM of the Indianapolis Colts in his season closing remarks.  Patience is a quiet but powerful knowing that, as we focus on our work, things will happen.  Patience is a powerful form of confidence.  It is poise personified.  It trusts.  It understand that there is work to do, but it trusts in the process.  So, going forward, it is a powerful, practical strength of character, and it is grown in practice.  For me, the T’ra’at is indeed talking.

When we look on other matters, we need to be strategic in understanding when Patience is called upon, and not.  I strongly suggest that Patience is a noble practice in working and living with others.  Everyone has a journey.  That being said, I have fallen prey in my life to excessively waiting on people with respect to work and projects and initiatives, often over accommodating for their hesitancy.  Unfortunately that hesitancy is often grounded in their inability to say that they are not truly ready, willing or able… and in their desire to politely agree so as not to disappoint.  While we should and must be patient with people, that does not imply that we should accommodate thusly.  Great advice given to me years ago, but only now fully gotten is…

  • … go fiercely in the direction that your soul calls and see who shows up.  Do not entertain the well -intended.  Engage the intent.  Do not accommodate the polite “cannot say no” travelers.  Ride with those who have identified they are going there too.  Be patient with those who cannot or truly do not want to ride with you, but not patient in waiting on them changing their hearts or minds.  The train is rolling, and the right ones will catch up.

I am munching on this; digesting it.  Patience is a strength, and a strategic one at that.  It is wise to know when and where and with whom it is required.

As Joe Calloway puts it in his book The Leadership Mindset, “As the leader, you are the prime keeper and defender of the culture. It is your job. While everyone is part of the culture, you can’t delegate this one because you are the embodiment of the culture. Regardless of what it says on the poster in the break room about ‘Our Culture’ everyone looks to you, what you say, and, more important, how you behave to know what the organization stands for.”  You must assert same.  Patience tells you move forward and trust in the process.  It also tells you that, if some are not on board, you must keep moving.

Whether in school, at work, in business or throughout community… the strategic strength that is Patience must be considered.  As of tomorrow, I have 400 days left for my 20022020 Vision.

  • It is 20022020, and I am a master and lifelong student of the global body of work around character leadership and unity building. I have learned conversational Mandarin and French to bring that work more global. I have also engaged a deepened level of spiritual studies and practice through The Ruhi Institute, and more. I am living a life filled with love, song, dance, cartooning, writing, epic stories, archery and more of what and who I love. My #bestlittledogintheworld Panda is by my side in enjoying it all. I am teaching business leadership at College of the North Atlantic, in class and online; and doing my global work of Epic Engage™. I am loving it! I am 110K in weight (slim for my body structure) and benching same; healthy and strong. And, I am financially ready, willing and able to support special projects in which I deeply want to invest and contribute.

Slow and steady patience in building that vision; I am reminded.

Peace, passion and prosperity…

Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy