We expect things to happen & come faster—and that’s what makes most people very impatient. We’ve got some tips on How To Be More Patient at Work. Technology has shifted the way we move in life— and more precisely, the speed at which we move.
Instead of sending a letter & waiting days (maybe weeks) for a reply, we can send an email & get a reply almost instantly. Instead of waiting days for some order to reach, we can choose the same-day delivery option & get our article in a matter of hours. Instead of waiting till the morning to ask a colleague some questions, we can send them a text message & get the reply we need.
The point is, due to technology, we expect things to happen faster —and that’s what makes us impatient.
How To Be More Patient at Work
1. Set Realistic Work Goals
If your goals are too high & not realistic, you are bound to fail. This is frustrating, indeed. But if you divide your long-term goals into smaller goals, you can achieve them easily.
This feeling of development will help you to develop your long-term patience. You can adopt some grace & flexibility. With unsure economy & finance & what feels like considerable changes in the world every day, your leaders may keep changing their priorities, & your manager might not give you the promotion you always wanted.
While your requirements & preferences matter, you can have better relationships if you show responsiveness to larger & smaller realities, too.
2. Be a Good Listener
If you often wonder How To Be More Patient At Work, try to improve your listening skills. This is an excellent way to enhance your interpersonal patience skills.
Do you often find yourself eagerly waiting for someone to end their speech so you can speak your mind? Regrettably, this trait isn’t uncommon. But it shows that you may not be a patient listener as you should be.
Failing to be patient while listening to someone can make the speaker feel disconnected from you. If you are more concerned with what you will say than what the other person is saying, they may feel neglected or insignificant.
Instead, you can actually listen to the other person. Try to pay attention to what they are saying, no matter how dull the subject may seem.
3. Improve Work-Life Balance
In workplaces, you are expected to work efficiently with a variety of other people, each with their own habits & styles. This variety is a gift — if you approach it properly, you can learn more & accomplish better results than if you were working alone or with a small team of people like you.
But, adopting this kind of mindset & working out how to work together for better results may take energy, time, & patience. All work & no break can make you an impatient person. Ensure to find time to have a break. If you burn yourself out, you are more expected to be frustrated & impatient with your coworkers.
4. Commit To One Work At A Time
Most people think impatience is about others. But suppose you found yourself writing an email, attending a video conference call, & scrolling through your social media feed. In that case, you will notice that impatience can also be noticeable in your work—in the form of multitasking.
When you try to multitask, you’re so impatient to do things that you try to do everything right away. But that impatient multitasking can indeed hamper performance & productivity.
Research found that people who frequently interact with numerous streams of electronic information (such as reading/writing emails & talking on the phone simultaneously) struggle with many cognitive processes, like memory, attention, & efficiently switching from one task to another. Research has also shown that multitasking can cause efficiency to drop by up to 40%.
So, if you are wondering How to Improve Patience at Work, start by being more patient with yourself—& allowing yourself the time and space to finish one task at a time. Allot time on your calendar to work on particular tasks—& then only work on your allocated tasks during each time slot.
5. Accept Things You Can’t Change
Accepting things they can’t control is another common trait of people who know how to have patience. This is useful for all types of patience but particularly for life hardship & daily hassles.
A lot of times, being impatient happens because we want things to change instantly. But practicing acceptance can help us to be calm in adverse circumstances while we wait for that change to come.
An excellent way to practice acceptance is to regulate your expectations. Look at the available & identify which of these factors you can control. Then, you can change what you can & let go of the things you can’t.
6. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a vital exercise in all aspects of our lives & for all kinds of patience. Being mindful means you live in the current moment without judging your thoughts or surroundings.
Try to practice mindfulness when you have to be patient. Here are some ways:
- You can keep your eyes closed or open.
- Without changing the breathing pattern, pay attention to your breaths.
- Notice the way your breath comes in & out of you, regardless of your movements.
- If some thought or external elements cause your attention to drift from your breath, note it with no judgment.
- Return your attention to the breathing & repeat.
7. Identify What Causes Your Impatience
At times, we can’t always stop impatience from bubbling up. So, we can instead try to stop ourselves from getting into these infuriating situations in the first place.
How to do that? First, you need to identify your causes of impatience. Start by thinking about the times your impatience has shown its ugly face. Then, note down those occurrences & see if you can find any common links. Identifying those links can help you avoid or control the pressure points that trigger your impatience.
8. Be Comfortable Feeling Uncomfortable
Waiting for something you really want or need is not a good feeling. For most of us, waiting can be absolutely uncomfortable & this discomfort often causes impatience. How to fix this?
You can develop a tolerance for uncomfortable waiting periods by making yourself wait more frequently. That might sound counterproductive, but if you think about it, you can really develop your patience by practicing it often.
9. Be Kinder To Yourself
Often, impatience is a by-product of stress & anxiety. You may be putting too much pressure on yourself to perform more effectively. When you do this, you enhance your stress levels & the probability of becoming impatient. Accept that we all make mistakes, try to learn from those mistakes, & move on. Show yourself the compassion you would to your friend or family member.
What Causes Impatience?
To answer How To Be More Patient at Work, we need to understand the root cause of impatience. In a study involving almost 3,000 US citizens, 45% of participants said they feel less patient than they did five years ago & they blame technology.
Immediate satisfaction is at the core of most social media platforms, providing users with “likes” & “shares.” Each response gives you a kick of dopamine, one of the brain chemicals accountable for pleasure. The more we crave attention online, the less satisfying it becomes. We become impatient when we don’t experience it may more.
Social media is one of many problems. We live in an age of technology. Instead of waiting for food or groceries in restaurants or stores, we get them delivered to our doorsteps. The ‘no-time’ feature is setting itself as a motto nowadays. If we don’t get it instantly, we become impatient.
But being impatient causes stress, which can create health problems. Chronic stress causes weight gain, high blood pressure, & various cardiovascular issues. Practicing patience can be the answer to all of these.
FAQs
Q: Can becoming impatient in the workplace cause adverse effects?
A: It can bring many adverse effects. In most organizations, patience is considered to be a virtue.
Q: How To Be More Patient at Work if all fails?
A: Then it may be an indicator of some severe mental health problem. Try to talk to a counselor.
Q: My boss & colleagues make me impatient; what should I do?
A: Try to have a quality conversation with them regarding the issue. The issue may be from your end or theirs. It is vital to identify & address the issue.
