PATIENCE Vs PERSEVERANCE

Many people use patience and perseverance interchangeably and assume they mean the same thing. They don't. The difference between perseverance and patience is that while you persevere you are working hard KNOWING things will change and that when they do you will be ready but while being patient you do nothing HOPING things will change but you won't be ready when they do. 

What are people who are sick in hospitals called? Patients. What do patients do apart from lie on the bed and hope to get better? Nothing. They only Hope. 

Being content to wait if necessary; not losing one's temper while waiting is one definition of PATIENT. How can one be content to wait? Do you do anything while waiting in a reception room? No. 

To persist steadfastly in pursuit of an undertaking, task, journey, or goal, even if hindered by distraction,difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement is the definition of PERSEVERE. You don't improve by being patient because you don't improve by sitting and waiting. You improve by persevering because while you persevere you are doing something. When you are patient you are sitting and HOPING something happens. When eventually this thing happens you may or may not be ready. When you persevere you are working and know something will happen and when this thing happens you won't be taken by surprise. 

It is good to be patient. In fact we were told that a patient dog gets the fattest bone. I am sure this was said when there were few dogs around. The dog that perseveres and follows its master to hunt and the dog that patiently stays at home wishing for the master to return, which gets the bone? 

I usually advise people to be patient in perseverance and not persevere in patience. Those are two different things. When you are patient in perseverance you are working and being patient. This means you are working hard and smart. When you persevere in patience you are simply waiting hard. The person who picks up a magazine while waiting in the reception room is patient in perseverance while the person who just sits and waits is persevering in patience. The person is just waiting hard. 

To live life successfully one must have a next level mentality. This is the bottom line of all human endeavour. Everything we do today is geared towards making us better and giving us assurance for tomorrow. Unfortunately only a handful of people take practical steps to see this happen. If this is the mindset you gave you may stop reading this if you are not willing to change that mindset. 

To fully grasp this article, you need to know a little about comfort zone. The comfort zone is a psychological state in which a person feels familiar, at ease, in control and experiences low anxiety and stress. In this zone a steady level of performance is possible. A lot of people are in this zone and many don't even know they are in it. In the western world, once an individual reaches the age of 18 he or she must leave the parent's house. This is a good description of leaving a comfort zone. At the age of 18 this shift must take place. There is no waiting for the right opportunity or time. Consequently, you find individuals preparing themselves for this move away from the comfort zone. Adulthood has come and one must fend for oneself. In our various lives/careers, we refuse to or are so afraid to move out of our comfort zone. Note that in the comfort zone a steady level of performance is possible. This doesn't sound great. In fact it sounds average to me but this is where most people are at the moment and are being patient. Because a steady level of performance is possible, not even achieved, many are happy to wait patiently for things to turn around. Do not be caught persevering in patience or waiting hard. 

Let's view perseverance from another perspective. Stepping out of the comfort zone raises anxiety and generates a stress response. This results in an enhanced level of concentration and focus of channelled properly. 

This is what happens when you step out of your comfort zone. Surely you will have challenges but your enhanced level of concentration and focus will come in handy. It is at this state that perseverance is needed. While out of your comfort zone all your efforts should be geared towards attaining a higher level of comfort zone. Like the 18 year old who leaves his parents house, you must be prepared to take advantage of any opportunity that opens up to you. This is where personal development comes in. The objective is to continously sharpen your strengths and improve on your weaknesses. What needs to be done is to decide where you are today and where you wanna be tomorrow. Write this down. Plot a graph of the steps you need to take to get to where you need to be tomorrow and stay the course. That's all. What would you do? Be patient or persevere? Choice is yours.