Those who can wait are the winners

I was just reading an article in one of the Norwegian papers about the ability of people to wait. The ability to wait is connected to the ability of succeeding, of achieving better results than those who can’t manage the waiting process. It is also closely linked with our intelligence.

It got me thinking about my own perspective on that. With the years I have come to understand the huge impact the capacity of being patient has on our lives. Nothing can be built in one day and the impulse of seeing immediate results is self-destructive. There are people who have given up on so many things in life only because they could not see beyond the present moment. But immediate gratification represents the easy path most of us would like to be given in life.

What is that one thing which makes us want to go forward, to fight for things, to struggle through difficulties? It is the final image of what we will ultimately be able to have; it is that target which we think would bring us happiness and fulfilment. Nobody can succeed without compelling motivating factors. And come to think of it, it really takes a lot of willpower and courage to envision those final results and be happy to start your walk towards it. Not being able to reach immediate enjoyment whenever we want to do/achieve something makes our chances of succeeding very slim.

And yet there are people who can control their impulse of instant gratification and wait. These are the people who always seem to be the winners. And as it turns out, it also means they are intelligent, more optimistic and better at long-term work. Therefore, people who manage to wait for what the future has to offer, enjoy a happier life in the end.