#141 We’re All Impatient

Oh, boy, is this true.  I'll be the first to say I’m on the impatient side of the spectrum.  Even though I’m not naturally a patient person, I had to force myself to develop more patience. 

Why?

Nothing happens when you want it to happen.  It happens when it’s supposed to fucking happen.  No one can tell you when.  No one has the crystal ball.  Sometimes you want to throw the towel in because you feel like you’re working so hard, with results.  Little do they know how close they really are.

It Applies Everywhere

Impatience with body transformations, impatience with your business growth, and impatience with your bench press.  It applies everywhere.  There’s no way to know or understand how long things will take to come to fruition.  Every time I've felt like I was entitled to a certain goal, it eluded me even longer.

I know you know what I’m talking about.  Maybe you have a 60-day lunge streak going at 400-800 meters.  Maybe you’ve been working for X number of days to reach a specific money goal.  Guess what?  There’s NO time frame that says you’re entitled to receive this or that.

MP Days

Back in the MP days I remember building the business early on.  There were so many different things going on, and I was thinking, “Why aren’t we X?”  I thought I deserved it, but the reality was that we weren’t “X” because there were many other things that needed to happen still.  We weren’t entitled to a number just because we overcame a few obstacles.

Continued Patience

Being consistently patient is hard.  Take my shoulder, for example.  It's been almost two years since I ruptured my supraspinatus.  Being super impatient, the rehab process was even more frustrating because I knew the numbers I used to hit.

I'm still optimistic because of my deep understanding of the body.  I believe I can get back to my best all-time numbers… 320 pounds in the 181 class.  I believe that it’s possible.  So, it's one of those things where I was like, "Man, I feel like I should already be there."  But then I realized, "You don't know anybody that's ever done this.  You don't know anybody that ripped off their fucking supraspinatus and didn't get surgery and still competed and had a full pump in his pec."  I’m not aware of anyone that has done it, so how would I know how long it’s going to take?  I don’t.

I Don’t Know How to Quit

Could it take two years, three years, or four years?  I don't really know.  What I do know is that I don’t know how to quit.  In my mind I have no other option other than learning to be more patient, learn from it, teach others, and continue to execute.

When I got the first cover of a magazine, it took me three times as long as I thought it was going to take.  Once that first one hit, it turned into 13 total covers over a four-year period.  It’s like a snowball.  It's like I'm rolling this snowball up the hill with my team.  Once it goes over the top, sometimes you can't stop it.  

Time Involved

If you give up, you’ll never see the snowball go over the other side.  Momentum is real.  You can feel it.  It’s not something that you can force.  It all comes down to time involved.

So, are we all impatient?  1,000,000%.  I'm as guilty as anyone else.  But when you feel that impatience press up on you, try to force it the opposite way.  Try to understand that it’s just time involved.  If you are willing to do what is necessary for the period of time that it's going to take, then it will happen.