Patience is a Virtue

When becoming a manager, you will have to deal with all types of people.  Smart, funny, mean, gossipy, and many more.  Usually it is easy to put up with people’s attitudes, but when it comes to those who are not as quick witted or as smart as you, it becomes very difficult.  Patience with others takes time and effort. You will be tested, pushed to your wits end, but you need to stay calm in order to try and help the other person.  Losing your temper is not going to help anyone and will only make you look bad.

Now in a group, there is always going to be someone who is not at smart as you in some area.  Doing everything for them is not going to help, and dealing with their stupidity can be very difficult.  Take Joey Tribbiani from Friends for example.  Joey is an actor who is in and out of work all the time.  Now Ross Geller is a paleontologist and is obviously the smartest one in the group.  He had to put up with the stupidity of his friends all of the time.

This clip is a perfect example of the intelligence difference between Ross and Joey.  Quotation marks should not be a difficult concept for a 20-something year old adult, but obviously Joey struggles with it.  But Ross, even though he does not handle it in the best way, still reacts poorly by not showing Joey how to properly use them.  Granted Ross was furious at Joey for recent events, but that still is not excuse.  This clip is also a great example of a loss of patience.  When Joey tells Ross to hit him and he finally does throw a punch, Ross just ends up getting hurt.  This is a wonderful metaphor for real life.  Loosing your patience at someone will not help anyone.  it will simply hurt your reputation and your situation at your job.  Companies need managers who can hand stressful situation and difficult people with the proper control of emotions.

Now that you understand the importance of patience, it is time to learn how to use it.  Explaining something to a person who does not understand can get very repetitive.  Sometimes you have to explain things again and again or show them how to do something over and over.  Yes, it will be frustrating.  Yes, it will difficult to keep calm.  But you need to try your best.  Sure it can feel like you’re talking to a brick wall sometimes or even that you’re running in circles, but keeping calm is very important.

I have had no choice but to learn patience as an eldest sibling.  Having three younger people live in a house with you can be extremely difficult, especially when you are related to them.  It’s harder to keep your patience with them because they are family and you know that they will love you even if you snap at them.  But as the eldest in the family, I am the role model and I have to set a good example.  I cannot get angry at every little thing that bothers me and I have to learn to express my feelings in a calm and respectful fashion.

In conclusion, patience is one of the best traits to have as a manager.  It will help when dealing with your team or other people in the company.  It will also help you in real life when dealing with difficult people in every day situations.  There are always going to be difficult people in the world, but if you have the ability to deal with them, then it will make life so much easier.