Nature demonstrates a truth that we often forget: growth demands both explosive action and excruciating patience. It calls us to sprint and wait, sprint and wait. This cycle of ‘hurry up and wait’ isn’t quite contradictory — it’s a rhythm of urgency and stillness we should adopt as we pursue Big Things.
Take water, for example. It carves an entire canyon with devastating slowness. Over millions of years, water doesn’t choose between speed and patience — it embodies both. It works urgently in the moment to create something extraordinary in the long run.
We resist this duality. We don’t have millions of years to carve a fucking canyon. We crave the instant gratification of quick wins, or cling to the comforting illusion of ‘waiting for the right time.’ Instead of embracing the daily labor that could bear fruit years down the road, we fixate on shortcuts or fall into inaction altogether.
But the most powerful forces in our lives — compound interest, skill mastery, deep relationships, meaningful work — demand that we hold urgency and patience together. These forces require us to move relentlessly in the present while trusting that the greater rewards will unfold with time.
In a world that offers instant gratification at every turn, choosing patience can feel irrational. Almost irritating. Yet patience is not inaction or complacency. It’s a deliberate choice to unlock greater opportunities and flexibility over time. Patience helps you strike when the moment is right. It teaches you to earn what you want and sets you apart from others who want the same but won’t put in the time or effort.
Many systems we’re part of — societies, economies, companies — transfer prosperity and opportunity from the impatient to the patient. Those willing to endure and invest in the slow, meaningful work reap rewards the restless cannot attain.
“There is no such joy in the tavern as upon the road thereto.”
~Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian (Book)
“We who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals.”
~Quarry Worker’s Creed
