They say patience is a virtue. Yet, in today’s fast-paced world, impatience may also be a virtue. Impatience has led to many innovations. Once upon a time, the U.S. Postal System was considered one of the most efficient in the world. First class mail could be sent across the country in just 2-3 days. But impatience led people to develop and adopt email as a much faster form of written communication. First class mail, now dubbed snail mail, was relegated to greeting cards and hard copies of official documents. This impatience to work faster has also led to other innovations such as the fax machine, document scanner and software that allow documents to be uploaded FTP sites. The entire industry of overnight package delivery is another child of impatience. And, with each step business takes to do things faster, society’s patience grows shorter and actually encourages even more impatience.
What about when it comes to people? If patience is a virtue, can impatience also be a virtue? Yes. Impatience is not only a force that drives advancement in science and business, but it can even improve certain social situations. The trick is to recognize when a situation would benefit from either impatience or patience, and apply the correct force accordingly. The goal is not to allow human nature to simply select one or the other at will or at random. When and how can impatience be harnessed and when is it best not to be impatient? Continue reading
