DON'T BE PATIENT

Patience! Such a powerful word used in so many sayings and preachings.. But what exactly is this patience.

To be honest i have patiently thought pondered over this topic only to become impatient because i could not get any reasonable answer. The literal meaning of patience is 'the quality of being able to stay calm and not get angry, especially when there is a difficulty or you have to wait a long time'. Although a single word it used to describe multitude of emotions. Let's break this jargon dictionary definition and try to simplify it.

The ability to stay calm. 'Calm' funny how this word has the exact opposite effect if told to a person who needs to remain 'calm'. We have countless examples of athletes in the world of sports who are known for being level headed in high pressure games or races. One of the best examples for Mr calm is Kimi Raikkonen (Ice Man) notorious for being too calm in a lot of situations or is he..? A quick search on the interweb for kimis team radio messages will tell a completely different story all together. The most infamous one being "leave me alone i know what i am doing". And this statement in my opinion is a more apt definition of calm. It’s not just about being quaint and taking decisions while keeping emotions aside. It’s about having that self-belief that YOU KNOW what you are doing! Your team radio will be buzzing with suggestions and strategies but no one and I mean NO ONE can assess your situation better than you! This doesn’t mean that one should not take any suggestions or advice, after all people sitting in the pit wall are highly trained professionals who have spent countless hours to come up with the best possible strategy and plan. But in the end we can’t predict life can we? What if it rains ? what if the temperature rises? what if there is an engine malfunction? what if the player gets injured during warm up? Not being a pessimist but life is known to throw curve balls at us and it is us up to us to hit the right solution.

Let’s say you are an F1 driver for Ferrari. There are 15 laps left and you are leading the race. All is going well till you see dark clouds hiding the sun and tiny droplets blocking your vision. Now you have to make the call to switch to wet tyres or stick to drys. Switch too soon and you risk overheating your wets and losing precious lap time and switch too late and you risk kissing the sidewall. What do you do next?

Should you go with your instinct or should you go with your team principal? Difficult isn’t it? You as a driver have the real time data about the track conditions and can feel how the car is actually responding to your inputs. On the other hand your team has all the historic data and weather readings with them! One part of your head will convince you to go with your instinct while the other will tell you to go with outside advice. And here is where the word 'calm' comes into play, where you see all the cards in front of you and take a decision which you feel is best. But being calm is not just the ability to take the decision but also accept the consequences that come with it. You need to have full faith in your abilities that your shot is going to fall but also have the ability to bear the consequences of your actions!

Another word which i find problematic is 'angry'. By virtue of being patient you are expected to not get angry. How is that possible? I haven't seen a single athlete that is passionate about his or her sport be 'calm' after a loss! When Micheal Jordan lost to pistons year after year in the playoffs did he not get angry? Of course he did! But he used his anger as fuel to better himself. He trained harder and became stronger each year till he finally defeated the mighty pistons!

So is being patient really a good thing? Well yes... but in a way it's okay to be impatient. Its okay to chase after your dreams, Its okay to feel bad when you lose, its okay to feel sad when you feel heartbreak.. What’s important is that you don’t let any of these emotions stop you from pursuing your goal.

Be relentless, Be impatient!