I went out for a meal with a group of friends from church. For some reason, we decided on a restaurant that did not take pre-bookings. They assured us that if we came in early, we would not have to wait for more than thirty minutes. You can guess what happened on arrival. With a smile on his face, the manager said, “I can get you a table in three hours”. What?
[featured-image single_newwindow=”false”](Image courtesy of Dollar Photo Club)[/featured-image]
I hate waiting for food. As a matter of fact, I hate waiting for so many other things. I hate waiting for the traffic light to turn red. I hate waiting for the lift to arrive. I hate waiting for dinner.
If you are like me with a measure of D personality, you like to be in control. Waiting for people you do not know to finish their meals and vacate the table for you and your friends does not put you in charge. So you begin to take control of other things.
Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how you behave while you are waiting ~ Joyce Meyer
Waiting does not mean inaction
Here are three things you can do to increase your chances of a positive outcome:
#1. Weigh the alternatives
In this particular instance, I took out my phone and began ringing nearby restaurants to ask for their wait time. It’s a similar consideration when you are going to the sixth floor and the elevator is on the 23rd floor. Do you start climbing the stairs or wait? Do you drive thirty minutes to another restaurant that promises a shorter wait time?
We looked at alternative restaurants,. We made phone calls. We even made a tentative booking to hold our place in the queue.
Your new product launch is not going according to plan. Your sales figures are moving in the wrong direction. Your blog traffic is not increasing as anticipated. These are all situations that will demand your weighing the alternative course of action.
#2. Decide on a plan of action
In his book “The Lean Startup”, Eric Ries talks about the fact that every entrepreneur will eventually face the dilemma of deciding whether to continue on the same path or pivot and take an alternative path. Do you keep doing the same thing and expect a different result or do you modify your actions based on your experiences so far. Do you shut down the blog and start another one? You may want to read Eric Ries’ “The Lean Startup”.
#3. Commit to your new decision
Whatever you decide to do, take immediate action to show your commitment to this course of action. If you decide to climb the stairs, then start climbing. If you decide to continue the blog, do some research, get some coaching, and find out how you can improve on what you are doing. Look at your sales figures or viewing results to gain insight into who is actually buying your products or reading your blog.
In our case, we decided to wait rather than seek out the most promising alternative. Might I say that the wait was for about an hour rather than the initial three hours we had been ‘promised’.
Our patience paid off because in waiting, we ended up having the meal we originally planned and we saved ourselves the hassle of driving around town looking for a vacant spot.
“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it” ~ Arnold H Glasow
What have you had to wait for that taught you patience?