Impatience The pitfall of every ambitious person

Impatience The pitfall of every ambitious personImpatience The pitfall of every ambitious personOne of my mentors is an art dealer. He specializes in art from the middle ages. Last time we met, he showed me a parte of his personal collection. Impressed by the size of the collection, I asked how long it took to accumulate everything.He said 45 years, and then he laughed when I looked surprised. He continuedThis is not something you can buy in one go. Its not like going to the IKEA. Accumulating anything worthwhile in life takes time. First, because you dont have the money to buy everything at once. Second, not everything is always available. You must wait for the right opportunity.And waiting is one of the hardest things in life. But if you take a close look around you, you see many examples of people who waited for the right opportunity.Take all the investors who bought stocks and real estate during the financial crisis that started in 2008. That recession lasted several years. Recen tly, I spoke to someone who invested a big chunk of his assets in the stock market between 2009 and 2011.He saved most of his money in the years that led to the crisis. elend because he predicted the global financial crisis that was sparked by subprime mortgages, but because he simply didnt know what to do. So he spent his time learning about investing.He also didnt follow the market. Instead, he saved his money - and wasnt tempted to invest it just because the economy is great.But thats not what most people do in prosperous times. When we see that the economy is growing, we think its the right time to invest and spend.We feel optimistic and we trust the market. So what do we do? We look for good investments. All of us turn into part-time investors.Whats even better, we make poor decisions without reading a single book on investing or without getting advice from knowledgeable people. Its pretty much become standard menschlich behavior in the 21st century.Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor, and mentor to Warren Buffett, wrote this in 1949The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.In other words The long-term investor always wins because of one reason.PatienceIts not only crucial for building wealth. When you want to learn skills and do good work, impatience is one of your biggest enemies.Leonardo da Vinci, whos considered as one of the greatest artists in history, understood the danger of impatience.In Mastery by Robert Greene, I read that Leonardos motto was ostinato muskelsteifheite, which translates as stubborn rigor or tenacious application.Every time he worked on a project, he reminded himself that he would approach his work with the same vigor and tenacity that he always showed. Leonardo never overlooked the details of his work. That takes patience.Find pleasure in painSo how do you apply patience to your life? One thing Ive found useful is to adopt the same mindset as Leonardo.If your work is n ot hard, youre not doing great work.Thats a perfect way to measure your own work on a daily basis. And journaling is an essential tool for that. Theres nothing else I can think of that is so effective in providing you with daily feedback.Having a mentor comes very close. However, the problem is that you often cant speak to your mentor every day. But your journal is always there.When youre trying to achieve your goals, improve yourself, and live a better life, there are moments you want to speed things up.The book youre writing, the presentation youre making, the business youre building, things cant happen htte nicht viel gefehlt enough. Theres nothing wrong with wanting things to happen fast. In fact, thats one of the main reasons people and companies innovate.But we have to realize theres a difference between a desire to achieve things and impatience. The former helps you, the latter harms you, especially your creativity.Like Robert Greene writes in MasteryThe greatest impediment t o creativity is your impatience, the almost inevitable desire to hurry up the process, express something, and make a splash.Big splashes dont happen. Overnight success doesnt exist. We have to remind ourselves of that whenever were impatient. It happens to every ambitious person.People who never do anything with their lives dont suffer from this. Only the people who work hard and try to make an impact do.Look at it this way. Youve spent enough time getting where you are - dont screw it up by wanting to go too fast. Spend more time on your work. Take pride in it. Thats the only way we can do truly great work.Thiscolumnfirst appeared onDariusforoux.com.