Steps to Success: Patience is Power
“Soltanto l’ardente pazienza porterà al raggiungimento
di una splendida felicità.” - Pablo Neruda
In any new endeavor, a passion for learning can sometimes turn into frustration if we don’t see immediate results. We live in a world which, thanks to technology, makes a lot of things faster and more convenient – but no technology can replace the miraculous (and mysterious!) mechanism that is the human mind. No matter how much you might want to speed through the process of learning a language, your brain has its own sense of timing and its own way of processing new information.
Without patience, even the most highly motivated students can fail.
So what is patience, and how can you make it a part of your life? In the dictionary, patience is defined as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems or difficulty.” Obviously, the ability to remain calm in the face of adversity is a valuable skill that can be applied in all areas of life – but what about learning English? Is patience an important part of learning a language? Absolutely! Passion motivates learning, but patience makes learning possible.
Patience means that when you make mistakes, or when your progress seems slow, you don’t give up. You keep going, and you keep a good attitude even if you are tempted to become irritated. Patience means that you choose to stay positive when you face an unexpected challenge. When you struggle to remember verbs or vocabulary, or you forget how to pronounce a word – it’s okay! Making mistakes is part of the learning process.
If you aren’t making mistakes, then you aren’t learning anything new.
This week, take a few moments to reflect on what patience looks like in your life. Like many things in life, patience is a skill; and just like any other skill, you have to practice patience before it feels natural. Here are some tips for you as you begin:
1. Become aware of the moments when you are not patient: for example, when you make a mistake, how do you normally react? When you don’t see results right away, how do you respond?
2. Make some notes about your discoveries from step number 1, and then think about different choices you can make the next time you feel frustrated. Plan ahead!
3. Write down your ideas and put them in a place where you will see them every day. You could even find a quote about patience that inspires you, and copy it into your notebook, diary or journal.
As you continue to grow and develop new habits, choose to trust in the process of learning. Choose to give yourself extra time and space to master new concepts. Take your passion, add a little patience, and start making progress.
If you fall down, get back up and keep going! ♥
