If you struggle with patience, you’re not alone.  I struggle with it too.

Patience is one of the most essential ingredients in the recipe of building wealth.  It’s also one of the most difficult ingredients to incorporate into your wealth-building strategy.  This is probably the reason why so few people build wealth during their time alive:  Patience is CRAZY hard to embrace.

For example, I’m traveling to Florida this week for Fincon. Fincon is a massively huge (2,000 people) conference for financial writers, media personalities, and money aficionados.  I attended it last year, and found it’s a wonderfully fun community where it’s easy to make a lot of lifelong friends.

The majority of people attending are on their way to having a ton of money, and are now searching for their own personal definitions of happiness.  Everyone there is different.  Everyone is unique.  Everyone just wants to learn, grow, and experience their life to the fullest.  It’s a fun party to jump into once a year, and exchange ideas with all the biggest money writers across the internet for 3 days straight.

But meeting all of these people (some who are much more successful than me), also inspires a sense of envy, jealousy, and impatience in my gut that I have to block in my mind for me to remain a healthy and happy person.   For example:

Some people I’m meeting this weekend have MUCH more money than me.

Some people at the conference have MUCH bigger followings, and more successful blogs than me.

Some people I call close friends are just better natural marketers than me, and their blogs make WAY more money than mine does.

For three days straight, I will be surrounded by a lot of people who are more successful than me.

It’s an environment where it’s easy to compare myself to others, because we can all compare similar numbers and stages in life.  I’m not a millionaire, but a lot of my friends here are.  My blog isn’t a million-view blog, but a lot of my friends blogs here are.  I’m not a full-time writer, but a lot of my friends here are.

Seeing my friends succeed, and being envious of parts of their lives, inspires a sense of impatience in me.  I don’t want to have to wait another few years.  I don’t want to wait for my money to compound for me to be a millionaire.  I want it to happen now.  I want to be rich, famous, and financially free like a lot of my friends here already are.

I want to be successful like they are overnight.  I want what they have.  I suppose this is a micronism of the negative feelings that are created when you compare your life to other people’s lives on social media.  Everyone else’s lives can look better, wealthier, and more fun, when you’re not the one who has to do the hard work to create them.

I totally understand how hard it is to be patient to play the long-game in your own personal journey and goals.  As you can see, I struggle with being impatient too.  It’s a natural human tendency to want what other people have worked for.  That’s why when I get into this anxious, impatient mentality, I have to remind myself:  Be patient.  Patience is one of the magical keys I need to unlock my own personal journey to success. I have to remember this:  Almost everyone who is more successful than me, has either working at their dreams for longer than I have, or put more time into it than I have.  Patience, and hours worked, is often the only thing separating them and me.

For me to remember this human truth, I almost have to almost slap myself in my egotistical face sometimes.  I have to look in the mirror and just tell myself to STOP IT!  Stop being envious and jealous.  Just keep working.  Focus on you.  Create your dreams, and embrace patience as you do it.  If I just keep working, and embrace patience, I will find what I am looking for.

As I am surrounded by millionaires and ultra-successful people this weekend, I wanted to write this to remind yourself to be patient too.  It’s Ok to feel inadequate and anxious sometimes.  It’s a natural feeling.  I get impatient too.  But overcoming those feelings and embracing patience is one of the biggest ingredients that creates wealth.  Focus on the work and journey to become the human you want to become, and be patient:  It will naturally come to you.

So how do I stay patient when my goal-driven, egotistical side makes me feel like I am not good enough when I compare myself to others?

#1)  I first slap myself in the face. Then I kick myself in the butt with the strong re-affirming words that COMPARISON IS BAD.  ENVY IS EVIL.  PATIENCE IS THE VIRTUE THAT I NEED TO EMBRACE.

#2) I then re-affirm to myself that I am enough. My life and work ethic is good enough.  My talent is enough.  I am on my unique journey, and it is a great Journey.  I try to feel grateful for the successes I’ve achieved and life I do have, rather than anxious about the life I don’t have.

#3) I then transform the anxious, impatient energy bubbling in my blood into adrenaline to get off my butt and start working as hard as the people who are living the dream I want to live. I remind myself that if I want more out of life, than the life I am experiencing, then it is MY responsibility to make better decisions, and take better actions, which will naturally guide me to live a better future.

In conclusion, when I feel impatient, I slap myself in the face and remind myself to embrace patience.  Patience is one of the biggest ingredients to creating wealth.  If you don’t embrace it, and use it to your advantage, you’ll make building wealth much harder than it needs to be.

Talent + Action + Vision + Patience = The Path to Wealth.

On Saturday we’re leaving the conference and spending some time out at Siesta Key beach.  It’ll be my first time swimming in the ocean in 25 years and I can’t wait!!!  We’ll post some pictures when we get back.  Enjoy your week.

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