Semi-Charmed Life

Impatience is a Virtue

Patience is over-rated. They only teach you that patience is a virtue when you're young because the adults want you to STFU. Maybe I'm biased about this because I'm an impatient person by nature. I accept the fact that there are situations where impatience does not serve anyone well. But impatience, at least in my experience, has been very beneficial to me in certain situations.

I think it can be argued one facet of impatience is impulsiveness. Although I don't think being patient and being impulsive are mutually exclusive, I think being impatient has a lot to do with many of my decisions. Comparison shopping, for example, is something I HATE doing. I don't know how some people can spend weeks researching on what tv to get or what camera to get. I believe that as long as you're not shopping from the bottom of the barrel, you will NOT notice any appreciable difference in whatever you're getting. I think the same for bargain hunting because it is worth more to me to have what I want NOW than to have to spend time and effort to find the "best" product or to save a couple of dollars.

Yes, you might be reading this and think that my impulsiveness is an indulgence in instant gratification. I'd counter that what you perceive to be instant gratification is actually swift execution of a fresh idea in order to not lose momentum. Some people tie being impulsive with being irrational, but I feel I make very rational decisions . . . just very quickly.

Snowboarding started out as an "impulse" for me. I had been snowboarding a handful of times and had planned to get more serious about it for some time. You can't be good at it if you don't own your own gear. Well years passed and I did nothing about it, until one day a friend told me about an online sale. I purchased everything the same day. I deferred all my purchasing decisions to my friend and just bought whatever he told me to buy.

Same sort of deal with my camera. One day I decided that photography was sort of cool and maybe I'd get one. I told my friend to keep an eye out for whatever he thought was a good deal, and he got back to me the very next day with an ad on Craigslist. I went with my friend to meet up with the seller and bought the camera immediately.

I approached bjj the same way. I had been watching MMA for a few months and one day I thought to myself that it'd be pretty cool to learn brazilian jiu jitsu. I went into the first academy I checked out, with the intention of comparison shopping at a few different academies but I signed up on the spot.

What I'm trying to illustrate here is the positive side of being impulsive. I have so many friends who want to get into something but they muddle themselves in needless research and decisions, and after a few weeks they put it off til some other time. Or they convince themselves that it's not something they need. Other times people will use lack of funds as an excuse to not start something. All that rationalizing ends up with them doing nothing.

I think being impatient places an emphasis on the NOW. Wanting things to be done right this minute, when the desire is still burning. Well at least that's my positive spin on being impatient.

That said, you can find the ugly side of my impatience when I'm snowboarding, mountain biking and eating. I'm THE WORST when it comes to waiting for people.