I will never be described as a “patient person”.
My whole life I was told by teachers, parents and bosses that I just needed to “be patient”. And as a parent, it is the number one thing I struggle with (and GOD does parenting take patience - frick).
But my impatience has both served me and hindered me. It hasn’t always been the fatal flaw my ‘elders’ deemed it would be.
For one, it’s what makes me so determined and ambitious. The second I decide I want something, I’m already going for it.
But it has also meant I’ve talked myself out of a lot of things, given up too early or gotten to “good enough” but never farther than that.
This is certainly true in my business. I felt so impatient with my lack of fulfillment that the second I figured out what I wanted to do with my life - be a life coach - I went for it. I had spent enough time - YEARS - trying to figure out what to do that would make me feel more fulfilled. It was time yesterday.
But my impatience means that I am constantly running in my business to achieve … what?
I regularly have to stop and remind myself that I’m living my dream already. I AM a life coach. What am I running for? And if I’m not careful, before I’ve even taken a real look at where I’m at and what I’ve accomplished, I’m giving up, getting down on myself or cutting corners.
So if you’re feeling impatient about your lack of fulfillment, that you just want to get on with your life already, that you just want to know what it is you’re supposed to be doing already and that you just want to go for it and have it already, here are my loving suggestions:
1. Let your impatience fuel action. No, you shouldn’t have to wait any longer. By all means, think things through but use that impatience to blast past excuses, fears and other people’s warnings. This is the one time in your life where you get full permission to mobilize on your impatience.
2. Don’t let your impatience lead you to over focus on achieving success before you’ve even defined what “success” means to you. Otherwise, you will feel yucky, depressed and down on yourself every step of the way towards your new dream AND - get this - more impatient. Which isn’t a good thing because impatience, when it’s panicky, doesn’t feel good and isn’t good for you.
3. See if you can incorporate a sense of ease into your impatience and watch it morph into a trusting determination. Do this by going for what you want while practicing your faith that it will happen. This is how I stay focused and stop myself from giving up.
So if you’re jonesin' to get a move on up out of your stuck life already, you’ve got this. Wield your impatience, don’t let it run your life.
And if that impatience has got you scouring your brain for the exact answer to what your next step for what to do with your life should be, download my Get Unstuck worksheet for some guidance.