Can you tell the difference between patience and laziness?

It’s easy to think patience simply means the absence of action. Therefore patience and laziness can get easily confused.

But patience is not decided by action or inaction, it’s the attitude behind the action. Patience is a mindset.

A lion laying low in the prairie preparing to pounce on his prey (say that really fast), can look just like the one simply looking for an afternoon nap. A snapshot of the lion reveals almost nothing about how patient it is. To know it’s patience, we have to know the lion in greater detail.

To know our own patience, we have to know ourselves better than a few snapshots.

Do you lie awake at night with thoughts racing about the regrets of today and all the jobs that await you tomorrow?

Do you constantly think about the greener grass or the allure of another job, love life, finances, or fitness/nutrition regimen?

Do you jump from magic pill to magic pill failing to find what works for you?

The impatience you can recognize in yourself isn’t tied to action. It’s often tied to your thoughts about action.

Can you be ok with action or inaction? What is your motivation for either? What is your mindset?

Patience is a mindset that creates space between you and your actions or inactions. It creates awareness of our actions and allows us to choose better ones.

Patience allows us to zoom out and choose actions or inactions based on a greater scale, and in turn, greater rewards.

For years before I had my gym, I thought I needed to be doing more. I was growing evermore impatient to do something meaningful with my life. It was frustrating at times to really want to help people and contribute to the world, but had no idea how.

I had to trust that I was planted where I was for a reason, and that I was where I was only for a season.

Once our gym opened up in 2012, there was no turning back to the patience of the past. We were full throttle into creating something special.

Sometimes being patient means being planted in a certain place that you’re supposed to be. You may want that bigger house or that better job, but are you patient enough to create happiness where you are?

And here’s the bigger question, what are you preparing while you’re patient? I read so many books about business before I ever owned one.

When others see you sitting there like the lion, what are you working on that they don’t know about?

What are you preparing to pounce on when the opportunity comes?

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Know that you are where you are for a reason and make the best of it. Do something every day that is going to move your life forward. It may not feel like it moved today, but one day when opportunity comes you’ll be ready for it. Your progress will fast forward into the future because of all the work you did while being patient.

-Coach Tony