How to Trick Yourself out of Impatience • Andrew M. Crusoe

Have you ever been impatient while waiting for something?

If you answered “No”, then you’re lying. Impatience is part of the human experience. So what does one do about impatience? Well, one’s patience does grow with time, but I’ve discovered a handy life-hack that’s helped me, especially when waiting on someone to complete a task.

The process is simple. When you are waiting to be interrupted by someone, your impatience will make time seem to pass slower, and stress results. However, I have found a way to perceptively shorten this time:

How to Perceptively Shorten Time

Write 3 things you’ve been meaning to do but haven’t
Do 1 of those things NOW! (the longer this task takes, the better)
Cross it off the list with a sense of accomplishment
Continue onto the next thing until…..
You’re interrupted!

Eventually, you will be interrupted. As if by magic, the other person will seem to interrupt you sooner, than if you had been simply sitting in anticipation. While this solution is rather obvious, one would be surprised how few people consciously apply the setups above.

Interruption vs. Impatience

One could jest that this works because the universe favors interruption over impatience, that the universe would just as soon ignore impatience but jump at the opportunity to supply interruption. Of course, this is just anthropomorphization. Exactly why this process works is up for debate, whether it be that a distracted mind cannot measure time or that a productive mind invites distractions.

Either way, try it for yourself, and let me know if it works for you.

6 bits on How to Trick Yourself out of Impatience

I was quiet ipmatient to read this article till the end. I will read it till end later

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he I see I was impatient to post my comment 🙂 I didnt see I made mistakes typing quikly

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Haha, how ironic. 😛

Great post, and so true.

I think impatience often causes us to miss out on other opportunities, as well…we are concentrating on what we are going to do next, and we forget to live in the moment, or to take time to “smell the roses”.

BTW: Your photo gallery is growing very nicely. You certainly have an eye for simple beauty. Isn’t it amazing how we can find things of beauty if we take the time to notice them?

Keep up the great work.