“If I have made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.”
Sir Isaac Newton
we live in a magic pill society. media has a way of spamming us with empty promises and quick fixes. just look at the weight loss industry as a perfect example. diet pills, machines that vibrate while you watch tv, diets that claim you can eat anything you want, magazines claiming washboard abs in 3 weeks with only 10 minutes of exercise a day. sadly, patience and persistence have faded, and laziness and avoidance of pain have taken over. convenience and consumerism have brainwashed us. it is not like this in other places (although these habits are influencing the rest of the world a little bit at a time).
the problem with instant gratification is it is fleeting. temporary highs, followed by the next instant gratification fix. magic bullets don’t exist. you’ll be wasting lots of time, energy, and money trying to find them (that’s what advertisers want, your money). after awhile, you may just end up giving up altogether after the 15th diet.
the key is patience. something society has forgotten about a long time ago. can you delay instant gratification? its not easy, especially considering we are programmed to do otherwise. our friends do it, our family does it, our coworkers do it, our fellow consumers do it, and its plastered all over the internet and tv. man, we sure got our work cut out for us. however, in order to grow, patience is an absolute must. most of the time we spend on the plateau. its rarely grandiose and epic when breakthroughs happen, it usually comes through patience and things slowllly start to click and trickle in. don’t get it? patience, my friend. it will come 😉