What is Impatience Costing You?

How can you learn to stop feeling impatient? You may find that your impatience is related to underlying fears or low self-worth. It's helpful to explore what causes these feelings to calm down and look for a cure. Impatience may also cause relationship issues. If you're impatient with other people, you could wind up wasting your time and anger on them. Impatience can lead to negative consequences, including lowered self-esteem and anger.


Impatience can also lead to criminal behavior and wrong decisions. Many impatient individuals miss the value of patience by jumping into decisions they don't fully consider. Impulses are based on our emotional-cognitive brain and don't allow us to think through all the consequences. In other words, it's far easier to steal than to save money. Ultimately, these impulses are counterproductive.

The same is true for your work. Imagine yourself in the middle of a block of writing, and you're tempted to interrupt your work so you can correct someone's response. The result is that your attention is divided and your mind wastes energy trying to decide which one would be a better use of your time. The distraction cost you money. You're not able to enjoy other things while you're distracted by your impatience.