The Japanese principle of “Gaman” (我慢) speaks of enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity. In our fast-paced world of instant gratification, where next-day delivery feels slow and waiting for coffee can test our patience, this ancient wisdom has never been more relevant.
I confess: I’m a sprinter by nature. My default setting is to race toward finish lines, often leaving patience in the dust. This urgency to complete tasks has led me down familiar paths – finishing projects only to discover that waiting would have yielded better outcomes, or worse, realizing that the task itself was unnecessary. It’s like preparing an elaborate meal only to learn your dinner guests have canceled.
Life often feels like an endless cycle of “hurry up and wait.” We rush to submit proposals, then anxiously await responses. We speed through project milestones, only to find ourselves in extended approval processes. We push for quick decisions, then discover that time itself was the missing ingredient needed for the best solution to emerge.
Yet gaman teaches us something profound: patient endurance isn’t passive waiting – it’s active wisdom. It’s about maintaining composure and dignity while time does its essential work. Like a master chef who knows certain flavors need time to develop, or a gardener who understands that no amount of pulling will make a flower bloom faster, we must learn to respect the natural timing of things.
When we practice gaman, we often discover unexpected gifts:
- Solutions emerge organically that we couldn’t have forced
- Relationships develop depth that rushing would have prevented
- Opportunities arise that impatience might have destroyed
The next time you feel the urge to sprint toward a finish line, remember: sometimes the most productive thing we can do is practice patient endurance. After all, the sweetest fruits are those that have been given time to ripen.
Happy Networking!