On Waiting Well

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” -Joyce Meyer

“Let’s go.”
“We can’t.”
“Why not?”
“We’re waiting for Godot.” -Samuel Beckett

“Day after day, as we wait for the things we desire, we become different people. In the act of waiting, we become who we are. Waiting points to our desires and hopes for the future; and while that future may never arrive and our hopes may never be fulfilled, the act of reflecting on waiting teaches us about ourselves. The meaning of life isn’t deferred until that thing we hope for arrives; instead, in the moment of waiting, meaning is located in our ability to recognize the ways that such hopes define us.” -Jason Farman, Delayed Response: The Art of Waiting from the Ancient to the Instant World

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” -Blaise Pascal

“Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?” -Lao Tzu

According to MIT Professor Richard Larson, sometimes called “Dr. Queue“, Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. That works out to about two to three years of the average person’s lifetime. That’s a whole heckuva lot of time, and behooves us to learn to wait well. So how to do it?

Resist the urge to fill up every moment with some sort of productive time or dopamine rush. Put the phone down.

Instead, allow your mind to just notice and appreciate your surroundings. Be still. It’s not only okay to be bored, it’s actually really beneficial for you.

It might not feel like it in the moment, but the better you can wait, the better you will feel and be. And more often than not, the creative breakthrough you seek lies at the end other end of your stillness.

P.S. – This excellent Marginalian post.