Impatient and Efficiency

A good friend recently pointed out that I am very efficient in all the things I do. In the next breath, he said that I have to control my impatient nature; otherwise I might overlook something.

Personally, I believe I am a very efficient person with a very detailed obsession. But his point was that when it comes to work, I am great with that. But in life, have I taken the time to appreciate all that I have or just rush through to the next thing.

Reflecting on his statement, it is true. I am very impatient when it comes to people not doing things efficiently or I notice someone might take 3 trips to get something that can be done in one trip. But this is my problem, I get impatient. Not their problem!

Being raised in an environment where Time is Money! then the more time you waste, the more money you lose. Where do you draw the balance in a very competitive world?

Some people sees that if you are slow, then you are lazy. If you are hardworking, then you are fast. Being fast does not mean everything gets done correctly; then you become inefficient since you need to have someone go back and correct all the mistakes.

I need to work on my patience. It finally clicked this morning when I was doing some weight training at the gym. I noticed 2 persons in front of me with their trainer, they were both working on their biceps curls. One was lifting very fast and counted off and continue on the next arm and the other took his time and slowly raised his arms for the curls. The trainer was telling them that there are times that need to go fast and your muscle will just contract but to best train the muscle, you have to go slow and work every nuance in the muscle.

I need to work on my patient muscle - I think in time of stress, it will give me time to think before I incur the 'foot in mouth' disease or other ailments that might be associated with impatience. I realize that when I am impatient, it is very easy for people to take advantage of it and I might make Rash decisions. (Like jumping off a plane on a dare, or enter myself in a beauty contest - luckily both turned out ok)

It took me a long time to recognize this and decide to change, I would appreciate any inputs as to how I can be re-trained to be more patient.