The amount of tasks at work sometimes seems insurmountable. This often happens through no fault of your own – you did everything on time to make sure tasks didn’t pile up, you skipped a lunch break or two to stay ahead of the game, and yet you still cannot go home in time. Moments like these would try anyone’s patience.
Patience is one of the most difficult virtues to practice at work. This is truer in instances of frustration, for example when a single weak link in the chain is slowing everyone down, or the nonchalant attitude of a supervisor despite it being a good few hours beyond your workday.
It is common human nature in such situations to become volatile and impatient. People who cannot control their impatience in these situations tense up, start sweating, get agitated, and may become unduly rude with colleagues, doing irreparable damage to their reputation. Losing your patience at work is doing yourself the biggest disservice.
Impatience is a weakness. Your colleagues may view your impatience as arrogance, insensitivity, and impulsiveness. Your seniors will most probably view it as a sign that you are likely to make poor decisions, quick judgments or interrupt others. If people know you to be impatient, they will be reluctant to come to you for assistance, and bosses will hardly regard you for new projects or promotions.
If you want to manage your impatience, and take it in stride instead of letting it ride you till you lose your temper and do lasting damage at work, try some of the suggested tricks.
Breathe easy: Take deep, slow breaths, and count to 10 in your head or out loud if it helps. This one is the most obvious trick but the most likely to work.
This works because doing it helps slow your heart rate, relaxes your body, and emotionally distances you from the offending situation. Do it several times, till you feel calmer. Doing this out in the open has added advantages.
Take charge of your body: When you become impatient, your body manifests this impatience in ways that you are not consciously aware of. Impatience causes you to tense your muscles against your will.
Consciously focus on relaxing your body. Like the previous tip, take slow, deep breaths while consciously trying to relax your muscles, starting from your toes and all the way up to the top of your head.
Slow down: If you start by acting patient, you will soon feel patient. When things are not going your way, simply slow down – speak and move slowly. Submit to the fact that it is beyond your power to change things around and relax.
Listen: Impatience causes one to stop listening. Be sure that you are practicing active and empathic listening. Give other people your full, undivided attention and plan your response.
Don’t get in the way: Much of what impatience may make us do, such as yelling at someone or being pushy, is not helping the situation but adversely affecting it. Remind yourself that your impatience does not get others to work faster or better. Instead, it interferes with their ability to perform well and may slow you down more.
