Maturity

Maturity is a very high price to pay for growing up.

Of course we all mature as a result of age, some more gracefully and more tactfully than others. Aging is one thing, maturing is another. That graceful aging/maturing process can be applied to our business growth. Since we are going to invest more and more time in our success, it makes sense that we would gain mature knowledge through experience, especially the best kind of experience that is gained when we fail. Becoming more tactfully mature means that when we learn, we get on with making the adjustments and don't let the temporary failure stop us. If we are not gaining invaluable experience as we "mature" we are wasting our time and the time of everyone around us. When we mature in our efforts we learn that reasoned persistence is a primary key and that temporary setbacks are just that, temporary. In this regard, the price paid for tactfully maturing is a great investment.

The price paid for maturing becomes destructively high when the maturity begins to constrict our desire to dream and think big. Less mature individuals, typically younger people often think unrealistically big and when those big unrestricted thoughts are viewed through a clouded mature-lense, they are often labeled as nonsense or a waste of time. Dreaming is not a waste of time. Thinking big is not a waste of time. Kids want to be Astronauts, Doctors, Lawyers or Indian Chiefs because the imaginary piece of paper they are writing their dreams on is blank and has no limits. Because of their lack of maturity, the sheet of imaginary paper will be filled with a very colorful future rife with grandiose lifetime achievements. These immature souls have no limits to their dreams because they are not tainted with the vicissitudes of life that the mature individual is allowing to cloud their view of endless possibilities. You are never too old to think big, think young, think grandiose possibilities, to think figuratively about becoming an Astronaut, Doctor, Lawyer or Indian Chief. Maturity to a point is beneficial, but when you mature to a place where you allow the state of mind to limit your big and creative thinking, it might be time to step back in time and dream. Dream big and don't allow maturity to get in your way.

Patience is a virtue and a problem

Patience is a virtue and it is also a problem. The ability to be patient and view occurrences through a lens that allows time for adequate development, is surely a high-value quality. Gaining a thorough and actionable perspective by moving methodically, both in your efforts and the effort of others, you are involved with, is commendable. Everyone has, at times in their lives, needed and allowed patience.

It was critically important in our developing years to have someone who would be patient as we learned to do something because we were unsuccessful, often time after time. Their patience allowed our failures to be building blocks and resulted in an acquisition of knowledge or skill we needed to be successful.  Most of us learned to ride a bicycle or learned our multiplication tables, not on the first try, but after many attempts and much patience. The patience of an interested person, made all of the difference and served as a virtuous example. They were patient and we learned.

And then there are those times when too much patience stunted the growth. Those times when our efforts were not our best and the instructor failed to tighten-the-screws and expect more from us more quickly. We were allowed to plod along when, if the expectations were set higher and the patience was less a part of the relationship, we might have learned more quickly and more deeply. Nothing is going to make you a better swimmer until you get in the pool to a place where your feet don't reach the bottom. The time for patience has passed and you had better swim or you'll sink. There is a time to cut-the-cord and take the position that too much patience is a problem.