Good Things Come to Those Who Persist, Not Those Who Wait

Adages such as “Good things come to those who wait” and “Patience is a virtue” are often told to children to instill patience in them (or just to get them to stop whining about a long car trip or the wait for the Holiday season). While patience can indeed be a good quality to have, it is a rare case to see someone actually get somewhere by sitting around and waiting all of their lives. Too many people apply a saying that was used to get us to wait for toys or pipe down on a long road trip to finding success in life.

The proper saying that we should apply to our lives is “Good things come to those who persist.” What this means is that we might not get to where we are going the first time that we try. We may fail miserably as we learn our crafts, but continuous practice will help us to develop our skills. Continuous work, and getting on our grinds will be our paths to reaching our goals. There is no time to sit on our laurels; we must dust ourselves off, lean from our failures rather than constantly lament them, and continue on our endeavors.

There are many reasons why one may believe otherwise. For me, my counselors in high school as well as my Christian upbringing convinced me that if I jumped through all of the hoops that I was supposed to and waited, that society or GodJesus would rewards me. Get your bachelor's degree, go to church, don't fornicate, and say your prayers brother, and life will be alright, and if it isn't you will go to Heaven when you die and it will be pretty sweet to sit around worshiping GodJesus and the Bear forever and ever. Boy were they wrong. My life did not start getting better for me until I decided to get up, consistently strive to better myself (mind and body), see the world, and see the world for what it really is. Oh, and fornicating has made my life better too.

Do not let others tell you to keep waiting when you know that it takes action to get where you want to go. Yes, rash decisions and actions can lead to disaster, but indecision and inaction will lead to certain stagnation. Make sure that you plan your approaches, but always move towards your goals every day that you are breathing.