Autorentext

Known internationally as an expert on change, M.J. Ryan works as an executive coach to senior executives and entrepreneurs around the world to accelerate business success and personal fulfillment. She combines a practical approach gained as the CEO of a book publishing company with methodologies from neuroscience, positive psychology and asset-focused learning to help clients and readers more easily meet their goals. Her clients include Royal Dutch Shell, Microsoft, Time, the U.S. military, and Aon Hewitt. She's a partner with the Levo League career network and the lead venture coach at SheEO, an organization offering a new funding and support model for female entrepreneurs. She's the founder of Conari Press, creator of the New York Times bestselling Random Acts of Kindness series, and author of many books, including, Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals.

Klappentext

Read The Power of Patience for straightforward, believable instructions for developing a habit of patience to lead to a happier and less stressful life.

Zusammenfassung
Read The Power of Patience for straightforward, believable instructions for developing a habit of patience to lead to a happier and less stressful life.

Leseprobe

From the book:

We all know about the lightbulb, but did you know that Thomas Edison also invented the stock ticker, the electric vote recorder, the automatic telegraph, the electric safety miner's lamp, fluorescent lights, the motion picture camera, and the phonograph?

Here is what he had to say while struggling with the lightbulb: I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.

I've been thinking about patience for years now, but it is only in the past few months that I have come to see the connection between patience and the cultivation of excellence. Here's how Eric Hoffer puts it: At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor. George Louis Leclerc de Buffon was referring to the same thing when he wrote, Genius is nothing but a greater aptitude for patience.

These thinkers are reminding us that genius must be cultivated. Raw talent gets us only so farwe must work at a gift over and over again: painting, writing, computer know-how, golfing, love, parenting. Anything that we could potentially become good at requires that we dedicate ourselves to long effort. This is only possible when we are patient with our progress, no matter how slow or fast it may be.

Studies confirm this. For instance, a researcher at the University of Florida discovered that, on average, it takes ten years of practice to acquire the mastery of an expert. That's a lot of patience!

A few years ago, the Gallup Organization released groundbreaking research in excellence. What they discovered, in a study of 2 million individuals, is that people who excel know what they are good at and practice even more in it. They don't worry about their weaknesses, but instead work on their particular combination of strengths until they have maximized them. (By the way, according to their research, there are 33 million possible combinations of these strengths, which means your particular configuration is one in 33 million. Thus, with the power of persistence, you can be your own one-of-a-kind genius.)

Like a fine wine that gets better with time, we fulfill our potential with patience. Through it, we are able to offer our unique brand of excellence to the world. And that is no small thing, for the world desperately needs the best of what each and every one of us has to give.

Inhalt

Contents

Chapter 1: How This Old-Fashioned Virtue Can Improve Your Life Stick-to-It-Ness: The Power of Persistence

No Reason to Stress: The Power of Serenity

That's OK: The Power of Acceptance

Chapter 2: Patience's Gifts Patience Creates Excellence

Patience Brings Us into Harmony with the Cycles of Nature

Patience Helps Us Make Better Decisions

Patience Connects Us to Hope

Patience Helps Us Live Longer and More Stress-Free

Patience Helps Us Waste Less Time, Energy, and Money

Patience Gets Us More of What We Want

Patience Guards the Door to Anger

Patience Gives Us Greater Tolerance and Empathy

Patience Helps Us Have Happier Love Relationships

Patience Makes Us Better Parents

Patience Teaches the Power of Receptivity

Patience Is the Heart of Civility

Patience Grows Our Souls

Chapter 3: The Attitudes of Patience I'm Still Learning

Patience Is a Decision

This Too Shall Pass

The Screws Are Just as Important as the Wings

Waiting Is Part of Being Alive

It's Better to Work At It Than to Buy Your Way Out of It

Where Are You Hurrying To?

Boredom Is All in Our Heads

Remember Rule Number Six

Tuning Out Is as Important as Tuning In

What Does This Matter in the Larger Scheme of Things?

People Are Only Human

Some Things Are Worth Waiting For

It Will Work Out

It Takes as Long as It Takes

There's More Than One Right Way

Welcome, Teachers of Patience

Enough Is Enough

Be Here Now Chapter 4: The Practices of Patience Tell Yourself the Truth About Where You Are Right Now

Tune In to Yourself in the Morning

When Am I Patient? Let Me Count the Ways

Know Your Impatience Triggers

Learn Your Early-Warning Signs

Take a Breather

Climb Down to the Base of the Tree

Road Sage, Not Road Rage

Issue a Storm Warning to Children

Tap Into Your Inner Wisdom

Keep Your Blood Sugar Level Up

Reframe the Situation

Find Something Else to Do

Practice with Aging Parents and Other Elders

Respond from Your Heart

Tell Yourself You Have All the Time You Need

Do a Risk Analysis

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Underwhelm Yourself

Ask Yourself: Is This Thing Still Flying?

Chapter 5: Twenty Simple Patience BoostersChapter 6: Above All, Be Merciful with Yourself My Thanks

Bibliography