the weekly ramble

Are you impatient?

Seriously impatient?

Do you have the kind of impatience you can taste? Feel?

The kind that burns you up and keeps you awake at night and restless during the day impatience?

Impatience that you can share?

Impatience that you act on…..

Excellent!

But, here is the thing – not all impatience is good impatience…sometimes maybe it’s not impatience at all…

What I mean is:

What sometimes masquerades as impatience is laziness – a lack of desire to put in the time and thinking needed to make a difference – a shortcut for no reason other than to lessen a workload.

Some impatience is merely a lack of interest – a loss of desire – a let’s just get it over with attitude.

And, some impatience is just sheer ignorance – an absence of knowledge – with no real desire to learn more or go deeper.

Here is the thing – notice what my three examples have in common when describing negative impatience?

Lack of desire; loss of desire; no real desire…

The way I view impatience; the way I value impatience is by passion.

True passion fuels the kind of impatience that can change the world…or any little part of it.

Impatience should be articulated as “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGIY5Vyj4YM

Watch the clip – if you didn’t – it’s worth it – listen to him carefully – it all begins with passion – passion moves mountains; has changed empires; has created true marvels….

Think about all the dispassionate impatience that you know – Wall Street for one – and ask yourself if that’s how you want your own impatience to be channeled – to be articulated.

Is yours the impatience of running a red traffic light and causing an accident or is it the “I’m as mad as hell” type?

Personally I struggle. We all get caught up in the get me out of the line quickly syndrome; the I don’t need to wait at the corner – no other car is coming… sadly how many dead people had that as a last thought… I wonder.

And sometimes the notion of patience being a virtue seems so old fashioned that it’s almost embarrassing – unless you recast the very notion of it as follows…listen:

“Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.”
Guy Kawasaki

Frankly, I found this to be an interesting lesson in leadership. However, it must be coupled with passion.

And to that end I submit the following…listen:

“He who is not impatient is not in love.” Italian Proverb

And there you have it. Be in love – with what you believe in; what you do every day; what you care for; what you hope to achieve/become; what you are…don’t embrace the impatience of the path of least resistance….

This, to me, is the simple impatience with negative thinking; negative people – what is more positively passionate than love?

And, my sense is that this is the impatience that makes all the difference.

Special thanks to MDM for inspiring me…

What’s your view?

How impatient are you?