As an incredibly impatient person who gives up easily, patience or waiting for something to happen doesn’t come easily to me. I somehow still expect things to happen quickly, to see success come quickly whilst not putting in a lot of work for too long a time.

I’ve recently made quite a few changes to my personal life and my business the past few months. And being my usual impatient self, I hadn’t quite seen “success” in the timeframe I set and was feeling down about it on and off.

But if I actually defined my “success” differently, I’ve actually made huge strides

Take the progress I’ve made in my yoga classes for example. When I started classes in Jan this year, I couldn’t do some of the moves. Touching my palms to the mat whilst keeping my legs straight for 1 minute? That would mean an entire 2 days after where I couldn’t walk properly.

I took it real slow though, an hour of Beginner’s lessons per week at first, and allowed my body time to adjust. After 2 months, I was starting to feel like I was adjusting well, so I added an additional hour and started to challenge myself with more difficult classes. Just a slightly higher level of difficulty. I continued with this momentum – adding classes whenever I could and stretching myself just a little bit more.

Am happy to report that I am now absolutely able to touch my palms to the mat with relative ease – those hamstrings are in rather good shape 🙂

Some things I’ve taken note of that may be useful for you

• Redefining success. Success is not always about the big stuff, achieving things, making more money. Sometimes success is just the act of you putting yourself out there and doing something you always wanted to and learning something about yourself. When it comes to yoga, success is that I’m still keeping up with the moves, and yes, that I’m able to touch my palms to the mat!
• Allow a teething phase. Just learning a new skill? Give it a few weeks or months to allow yourself to adjust. If you have a completely new habit, give yourself time to get used to having to incorporate it into your lifestyle. If you find yourself procrastinating or feeling lazy or returning to your old ways, just think about the benefits and how you’d feel at the end of it. Initially I had to drag myself to yoga classes because it was a switch up in my schedule and I was not used to it. But it felt good and I focused on those feelings whenever I was hesitant to go.
• Paying attention to what is coming up within you. Do you think you are ready to stretch yourself a little bit more? If it’s a yes, go for it. If it turns out that you may not be as ready as you thought, no worries, just take it a notch down first and try again another time.

The thing about patience and success is that being patient allows you to show up and build momentum. Success is alot about consistency and committing to the process. That can only happen if you don’t give up too quickly. And alot of times, not giving up too early is success in itself.