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The Art of Patience: Why Rushing Gets You Nowhere Fast

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The queue at the coffee shop this morning stretched halfway to the car park. Fifteen minutes I stood there, watching some bloke in a pinstripe suit tap his phone screen like a demented woodpecker, huffing and sighing as if his triple-shot flat white was going to solve world hunger. That's when it hit me – we've completely lost the art of patience in business.

After seventeen years helping companies sort their workplace dramas, I reckon patience isn't just some zen Buddhist concept your yoga instructor bangs on about. It's the most underrated business skill in Australia today.

The Rush Culture is Killing Us

Everyone wants everything yesterday. Email responses within minutes. Project completions in half the allocated time. Decisions made before you've even finished explaining the problem.

I remember working with a manufacturing company in Brisbane where the GM demanded instant updates on everything. Everything. The poor production manager was sending hourly reports instead of focusing on actual production issues. Result? Three major quality failures in two months because nobody had time to think properly.

Here's my controversial take: Slow decision-making often produces better outcomes than fast decision-making.

Yeah, I said it. Fight me.

Where Impatience Actually Costs Money

The data backs this up, though most executives won't admit it. Companies that implement "rapid response" cultures see 34% more project overruns than those allowing proper consideration time. I've seen this pattern in manufacturing, retail, construction – doesn't matter the industry.

Take recruitment. How many times have you hired someone quickly because you "needed someone yesterday" only to spend six months dealing with their incompetence? Patience in hiring saves massive costs down the track.

I used to rush recruitment decisions myself. Burned through three office managers in eighteen months because I couldn't wait for the right candidate. Expensive mistake.

The Sweet Spot Between Urgency and Analysis Paralysis

Now, I'm not advocating for becoming one of those committees that takes six months to choose bathroom tiles. There's definitely a sweet spot.

Smart patience means:

  • Taking 24 hours before responding to heated emails
  • Sleeping on major decisions (literally)
  • Asking "what's the actual deadline?" instead of assuming everything's urgent
  • Building buffer time into project schedules

Stupid patience is different. That's when you delay decisions because you're scared or can't be bothered. Not the same thing.

The Australian Advantage

Australians are naturally better at this than our American counterparts, I reckon. We've got that "she'll be right" attitude that can actually work in our favour – when applied correctly.

I was consulting for a Sydney-based tech startup last year where the founder kept pushing for faster product releases. Their competitor launched three months earlier with a buggy mess that destroyed their reputation. Meanwhile, my client's patient approach resulted in a smooth launch and 40% market share within six months.

Patience paid off big time.

Teaching Patience in the Workplace

Here's where most managers get it wrong – they think patience is just a personality trait. Wrong. It's a skill you can develop.

Start with yourself. When you feel that familiar urge to fire off an immediate response or demand instant action, pause. Count to ten. Ask yourself what happens if you wait one hour, or one day.

Create patience buffers in your processes. Build in review periods. Add thinking time to meeting agendas. Stop scheduling back-to-back decisions.

Reward thoughtful responses over fast ones. Stop praising the person who replies to emails at midnight. Start recognising quality over speed.

The leadership skills training programs I run always include patience modules. Managers hate it initially – they want quick fixes and instant techniques. But those who stick with it see dramatic improvements in team performance.

When Patience Goes Wrong

Look, I'll be honest – there are times when patience backfires spectacularly. Market opportunities that disappear. Competitor advantages that slip away. Staff who interpret patience as weakness.

I lost a major contract once because I wanted to "think about" their proposal over the weekend. They awarded it to someone else on Friday afternoon. Sometimes speed wins.

The trick is knowing which situations require immediate action versus those that benefit from consideration. Crisis management? Move fast. Strategic planning? Slow down.

The Technology Trap

Our devices are destroying our patience muscles. Everything's instant now – messages, information, entertainment, shopping. We're training our brains to expect immediate gratification in everything.

But business doesn't work like Instagram. Real results take time. Building trust takes time. Developing skills takes time. Creating sustainable systems takes time.

I make my team turn off email notifications during focused work periods. Controversial? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.

Practical Patience Strategies

The 10-10-10 Rule: Before making any decision, ask yourself how you'll feel about it in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. Changes your perspective immediately.

Email Drafts: Write your response, save it as a draft, review it later. Amazing how different things look after a cup of tea.

Decision Logs: Track your rushed decisions versus considered ones. You'll quickly see the pattern of which approach works better for different situations.

Buffer Scheduling: Add 25% extra time to all estimates. Sounds obvious, but hardly anyone does it consistently.

The manufacturing company I mentioned earlier? They implemented these patience practices and reduced their error rate by 60% within six months. Not rocket science, just slowing down enough to think properly.

The Bottom Line

Patience isn't passive waiting. It's active consideration. It's choosing to invest time upfront to save time, money, and stress later.

Your competitors are probably rushing around like headless chooks, making hasty decisions and creating problems they'll have to fix later. That's your advantage right there.

In a world obsessed with speed, patience becomes a competitive edge. Weird how that works out.

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