Patience, it’s a must, we all need it, yet seemingly few of us have it. We all know this, so I thought I’d take a different route when it comes to talking about patience. I was reading an excellent book a few years ago called, “The Art of Harmony” by author and martial artist Sang H. Kim. I came across a section of the book written about perseverance, in particular, the perseverance of a spider. This segment of the book triggered a thought about patience. My thought was, some people rely too much on patience when it’s not needed. Allow me to explain.

One of the most patient creatures on Earth is the common garden spider. Why? Because it has to be. It delicately and tediously spins its web to perfection, and then patiently waits for its food. It has no choice; its survival depends on being patient. So what’s the least patient creature on the planet?

Us, the human being. Why? Because we don’t need to be as patient as the common garden spider. We have all the tools necessary to get what we need and fairly quickly, especially in this day in age. So does that mean we do not need patience? Of course not, not everything can be acquired quickly, many things in life still need patience. What I want to focus on though is relying on patience to create something from nothing. The garden spider created a masterpiece, which with patience, leads to food and survival. I’ve watched occasional students over the years do nothing more than show up to class, patiently waiting to get better. As if the skill and talent will suddenly appear out of thin air one day. They missed a key ingredient in the success formula; they forgot to build their masterpiece! While showing up to class (or anywhere that learning/training is done) is a big and important step in the learning process, it’s by no means the only step in the process. One must constantly work hard to achieve their goals, simply showing up is not enough. We must also understand that the goal isn’t to acquire skill, it’s to build skill to acquire success. Skill is our web, our masterpiece, not our food! So the next time you go to class, or to work, or wherever you go to create your success, don’t forget to spin
your web first!