7 Tips For More Serenity

"Patience is a virtue" - and easier said than done. If you think so too, we have a few tips for you.

You don't feel like waiting for the train, would you like an answer from a friend right away and you're already dreading the long line at the drugstore? Patience is certainly not everyone's forte. But can patience be learned at all?

Can we learn patience?

Life is getting faster, offline and online, in the private as well as in the professional area. We want to make the best use of every second, so waiting doesn't fit into our everyday life at all - impatience creates stress. Patience, on the other hand, allows us to wait and see and put our own needs aside, even under stress. When we are impatient, we feel overwhelmed and helpless with a situation. Something we don't like at all, because our brain is more looking for a reward... But are we now helplessly at the mercy of impatience?

7 tips to practice patience

Science assumes that the ability to be patient is partly innate and is also formed in early childhood. That doesn't mean we can't change at all! There is definitely something you can do to combat impatience. These 7 tips can help you in the short and long term:

Distraction: There are situations we just can't control and we have to accept them. To distract yourself from waiting, you can e.g. B. playing with the lanyard, concentrating on your own breathing or looking for tasks to solve (e.g.: What can I do alternatively if I'm late and all the shops are closed?)

Reward: Rewards help you too! If you're looking forward to your favorite series, your favorite chocolate bar or a glass of wine at home, you'll be more motivated and waiting won't be that difficult.

Change attitude: You will benefit in the long term if you (over and over again) examine your attitude. Realize that certain things and circumstances just take time and you just can't change them.

Reconsider time setting: does it really have to be an "instant"? Isn't an "immediately", a "later" or a "soon" enough? Question whether what you are waiting for does not still have time.

Reduce stress: Putting yourself under pressure and also time pressure will probably not really get you any further in any situation. Here you will find good methods how you can learn to be calm and get order in your thoughts and your day with Braindump.

Use time: Especially in situations such as long waiting times at offices, you can also use the time for yourself instead of sitting there and getting angry. Of course you can take a book with you - or do something else that has been on your to-do list for a long time (e.g. rethink time management?😉).

Celebrating progress: Yes, you can celebrate yourself too! Rejoice in small advances, it makes waiting easier.

Patience - for what?

In a study, the psychologist Sarah Schnitker was able to show that patience facilitates satisfaction, the achievement of goals and the overcoming of hurdles. In addition, life is easier with patience, you are no longer stressed and frustrated so quickly.

The Legendary Marshmallow Test: Really Pointing the Way?

Many people are certainly familiar with the marshmallow test - or know it from a well-known commercial. Originally from Austria, Walter Mischel developed this test in the 1960s: Four-year-old children were given a plate with a marshmallow. They are promised that they will get a second one - provided they wait until the test leader returns. They don't know how long it will be gone. Some could resist the temptation, others could not.

The aim was to find out whether the children were able to give up something in the short term in order to achieve a long-term goal. But the surprise came after 13 years: Children who were more patient during the test were also more goal-oriented, more successful and more resilient as young adults than the impatient ones. Subsequent tests came to the same conclusion.

However, there are also critical voices with regard to the connection between patience and later success, since other factors (such as the educational level of the parents) are not taken into account. A team of American psychologists has now checked the results of the well-known experiment with 900 children, four and a half years old, and their favorite candy. The participants were again invited to a series of tests at the age of 15. It turned out that their ability to wait for the reward and their subsequent math and language skills were only moderately correlated. After eliminating other factors (e.g. family background), their ability to wait as children no longer said anything about their later performance.