Until a few years ago, it was assumed that there are processes that require more time than others and therefore they were allowed to flow without accelerating them. Today this delay is frowned upon; we look for the method or shortcut that will take us quickly to goal set. We are losing the ability to wait.

Impatient people want everything immediately and get frustrated if they don't get it. They are often affected by a social demand for speed in everything they do, related to the drive to produce more and compete better. Instead of enjoying the journey, they focus on getting to the destination as quickly as possible. This happens with both big and small things. For example, they get upset when it takes them a long time to connect to network, or when the car in front of them takes a long time to start after the traffic light turns green. They suffer in a queue or with a phone call that is not answered on the spot. These small impatiences can generate larger impatiences in other areas of life, since impatience generates more impatience.

Unlike impatience, patience makes it possible to achieve long-term goals. Patient people are willing to keep working even if the results are not immediate; this allows them to maintain motivation and self-confidence and keep going, even if difficulties arise.

To be patient means to wait as long as it takes to finish something, including painstaking or heavy work. It is a human virtue, a mature personality trait and a good way of life. For Teresa of Jesus, it is one of the greatest human and Christian virtues, especially necessary to overcome the moments of test and difficulty, as sample in these verses: "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, everything passes, God does not move, patience achieves everything, he who has God lacks nothing, God alone is enough". 

For the impatient person, time moves very slowly, which makes him feel anxious. On the other hand, for the patient person, the moments of waiting are more bearable and help them to enjoy life in the present. Patience allows us to reflect on our actions, thoughts and emotions; this makes it possible to take the necessary time to think about the consequences of our actions and choose more appropriate responses. While the impatient person takes quick and conventional solutions, the patient person can explore new ideas and come up with more creative solutions.

We need to have patience with all the people we relate to, but, above all, with ourselves. It is a very important factor in interpersonal relationships: between parents, between parents and children, between young and old, between teachers and pupils...

Patience is present in most of the successes of inventors and researchers, since it allowed them to achieve success by repeating the tests over and over again, correcting and starting over as many times as necessary until they reached goal. Athletes also base their success on the patience, insistence and hardness of their training. 

Patience is not passivity in the face of suffering or simply putting up with it; it is having the strength to accept with serenity the pain and trials that life puts in our way. Patient people, by reflecting before acting, see more clearly the origin of problems and the best way to solve them. 

George de Savile said that a man who is a master of patience is a master of everything else, and this is especially true if we stop to think about the characteristics of genius. It is not so much talent as time, work well done and perseverance, that leads to a scientific finding or a work of art. 

"It was not a thousand failed attempts, it was an invention of a thousand steps". These were Edison's words when he announced to the world the process by which he had succeeded in creating the high-resistance incandescent light bulb.