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Saturday, April 21, 2007

Are You Impatient?

Are we a nation of impatient Americans? Have we really become a nation that wants everything right now and is unwilling to wait for anything?

What are the typical symptoms of someone who is impatient?
• Cutting people off mid-sentence
• Making quick decisions (without investigating all the options)
• Snapping at others in response to questions or requests
• High stress levels that tend to lead to impulsivity in actions
• Physilogical changes such as higher blood pressure, increase breathing rates, anxiety

What are the recent statistics on our nation’s impatience?
• Nervousness: American’s get antsy on the phone after five minutes of being on hold
• Waiting: ¼ people say their highest impatience level is found in the grocery checkout lane
• Time poor: The typical shopper who spends 25 minutes in a store believe it has been an hour
• Age: Older people are more impatient than younger people
• Location: City inhabitants have less patience than those in the suburbs
• Revenge: American’s tend to refuse shopping in a store that makes them wait
• Rudeness: 20% of people speak rudely to someone when they weren’t waited on efficiently

What are some tips for enhancing our impatience response?
• If you become impatient, remove yourself from the situation physically or emotionally.
• Count to ten. This may be an old adage, but there is something to counting and taking deep relaxing breaths
• Practice active listening. Give someone your full attention and allow someone to fully finish their sentences
• Slow down your responses. Force yourself to speak at a lower octave, slow down your speed of your words
• Reward yourself for patient responses (not with caffeine)
• Lower your caffeine intake and see if it makes a difference
• Look for the positives in every situation as well as the opportunities for growth

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my heroes...Louise Hay...says this about impatience:
"Impatience is only another form of resistance. It is resistance to learning and to changing. When we demand that it be done right now, completed at once, then we don't give ourselves time to learn the lesson involved."

Isn't that the truth?! We are a society of instant gratification...I'm guilty. But what I've come to realize is that, everything happens at the perfect time. Take a deep breath, and be at peace with the process...there's always a lesson to be learned :)

joymiller said...

What a magnificient post. You are so right!