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In the remote work market, it is important to possess the right set of qualities to succeed. In a previous post, I mentioned the most important ones.
These are self-discipline, self-initiative, adaptiveness to change, time management, written English skills, and patience.
Today we will talk about the precious quality of waiting, or how to be patient at work. The tips in this article will be valid if you work from home. But they will be also a guide for any job that is done through a computer.
How to Be Patient at Work: Top Tips for Success
- Why Is Patience Important at Work?
- Tips for Improving Patience at Work
- Mindfulness Techniques
- Setting Realistic Expectations
- Taking Breaks
- Effective Communication
- Be Empathetic
- Learn How to Manage Stress
- Focus on the Present
- Practice Gratitude
- Learn from Your Mistakes
- Real-World Examples of Patience in the Workplace
- How to Encourage Patience in the Workplace
- Conclusion and Final Thoughts
My goal is to give you helpful examples and situations. You will learn how to deal with them most beneficially. Being patient when you face different types of challenges every day is an exhausting task.
But if you put effort and focus on improving this skill, you will soon be an expert in enjoying your job. Not only that, you will be much more healthy, and the tasks will seem easier than usual.
We'll begin with why job patience is important and tips to achieve better job commitment. Then we'll look at some examples that will help gain an idea of how to apply this quality in your life.
Why Is Patience Important at Work?
Helps Maintaining a Positive Work Environment
Imagine a colleague or your manager made a mistake directly affecting your work or productivity level. When you work in a team, this is a common scenario.
We are all human, and mistakes happen, especially when you work long hours, and have a lot of tasks to complete.
The approach to this situation is to acknowledge the fact that mistakes are part of your job. What you need to do is manage what depends on you to improve the teams' performance.
Remember, that doesn't mean that you should overlook the issue every time. In some cases, a colleague might be making a lot of mistakes that he could have avoided. If he was more committed to the job, his performance would definitely be higher.
Analyze the situation, and decide:
⇀ Is it a one-time occurrence from an otherwise hard-working person that you should ignore? or
⇀ Is it a model of work behavior that you should address and resolve?
This attitude and taking the patience path whenever presented with a change will help strengthen your work relationships. Make sure to weigh each situation individually based on the information you are provided with.
Improves Work Ethic
Patience is the base that will help you grow your work ethic at the workplace. If you are relaxed you can take your time to study and understand your tasks. You will also be more willing to do extra and go above and beyond in your job.
Once you have a clear idea of what is expected from you, your duties will no longer seem confusing or boring. You will be eager to do your job and will take work challenges as a game you want to win.
Builds Resilience
In the beginning, when I started freelancing, it was very stressful. I've been through many situations that made me feel discouraged and anxious. And I could tell my teammates had a similar experience.
To give you an idea of the type of situations that can happen, here are some of the most difficult ones:
1. A project I had been working on for almost half a year ended with no notice. One morning I received an email that the project was over because the client no longer needed it.
This came out of nowhere to me, and I was shocked. But the following week, the same company offered me to join another project, and my frustration was gone.
2. I had delayed payments several times. One time, the company added my payment to my account six months later after numerous emails back and forth.
In the end, they proved they were honest. Being patient through this experience prevented me from stressing out about my salary and losing my trust in them.
3. I failed a qualification test with the result of 91.8% where the passing score was 92%. I really wanted to join the project because it looked like fun, but... these things happen.
Certainly, it felt annoying for one or two days. But I'm grateful I have other projects running and working from home on my own terms.
Frustrating situations will happen, it's inevitable. Knowing how to cultivate patience in your job will help you minimize the negative effects of them on your well-being.
With each new situation you go through you will build your resilience. And the next difficulty you encounter will hardly move your ground.
Tips for Improving Patience at Work
① Mindfulness Techniques
If you are not aware of what mindfulness is, it may sound like a long and complicated word. Depending on how you approach it you can use different techniques. The main goal is the same for all available methods.
The point is to become fully aware of your present surroundings. Focus on what is happening at the moment: your thoughts, emotions, and surrounding sounds.
This will help you concentrate better and ultimately improve your job patience by immersing in your workplace's requirements.
② Setting Realistic Expectations
To be realistic about your job deadlines is a crucial part of your mindset as a freelancer. It's best to have a clear understanding of the exact period required for your assignments to avoid losing work patience.
It takes consistency to achieve great results. Here is what will bring you a step closer to improved patience:
⇒ building consistent habits of realistically measuring your performance and
⇒ setting the right amount of time for a task.
If your deadline is too strict, that will lead you to feel overwhelmed. The opposite scenario is when you define a term that is more than required. This can lead you to become impatient while expecting the next set of jobs.
Start with setting aside a little bit more time for a new task. Then once you are aware of the process of completing it, reduce the time to boost your productivity.
You can also use a stopwatch to detect how much time you need per task. Another option is to calculate an average completion time for a random group of different tasks.
③ Taking Breaks
The more you get tired, the harder it will be for you to maintain your patience level. When you work on a laptop, tiredness can cause you to unintentionally close a browser tab or an unsaved file.
If you lose part of already accomplished work, you will get discouraged. To improve patience, ensure you are spending enough time to recharge.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
It's best to have a set routine that will prevent you from having burnout and guide you on the exact work/break timings. You can use an alarm to remind you when you are too deeply focused on your project.
④ Effective Communication
Great communication is one of the basis of a healthy work environment. If you can clearly express yourself, and your points are understood, you will feel like a respected member of the team.
That will help you maintain patience in the workplace in critical situations. The same goes for your colleagues, and you should try your best to understand their concerns whenever you communicate.
⑤ Be Empathetic
To be empathetic means to make deliberate efforts to understand the feelings of others, and "feel for them". You can express this trait by saying words to make the person feel heard.
Empathy can help you realize the exact reasons for the behavior of others. Having this type of knowledge will let you maintain your job patience and avoid judging colleagues too harshly.
⑥ Learn How to Manage Stress
Have you noticed that patient people are also very relaxed most of the time? You can better control your stress levels by observing what frustrates you the most.
Once you are clear about the top factors that contribute to your discomfort, you can find ways to deal with them. These could be either avoiding the situation or resolving it in a certain manner.
⑦ Focus on the Present
If you get stuck on a past event that bothered you, you will have less space in your mind and energy for the task at hand. A similar effect will be in place if you are worried about the future and the assignments you need yet to accomplish.
Approach your work with a clear mind and full understanding of your job commitment. You will be more successful when you are in the present, and your work patience will increase.
⑧ Practice Gratitude
The more you are grateful for the job you have, the better you will become at it. Gratitude brings more of the same into your life.
When you are content with your job, you will have more patience. And the opposite - when you feel that something is missing, your mind will wander into the future with the dreams of a better life.
While it's great to constantly develop and grow, this shouldn't be the reason for your sadness and ungratefulness. Think about all the amazing experiences your work allows you to have.
There are so many - your collaborative teammates, your flexible schedule, your location-free office, etc.
Having patience in achieving your goals will let you enjoy the present and strive to upgrade it. It's a proven formula that worked for many people in the past and now.
⑨ Learn from Your Mistakes
If you keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again, unpleasant feelings start to pile up. Errors are part of human nature, but learning from our experience and acting differently the next time will fill us with joy.
The accomplishment of growing as an individual brings satisfaction. Instead of circling around the mistake, dive deep into it and explore it with your best patience abilities.
Real-World Examples of Patience in the Workplace
J. K. Rowling and the Publishing of Harry Potter
J. K. Rowling is famous for the creation of the best-selling book series in history, namely "Harry Potter". Her success was not immediate, nor quick. It took a lot of rejections, and perseverance until she achieved her goal of publishing the book.
Being the best in a field is a huge success, and we can only imagine what it felt like to go through the struggles and challenges related to this great achievement.
Keanu Reeves and His Career
Being a highly successful actor today, this was not always the case for Keanu Reeves. He has been through a series of failures throughout his career.
Even though there were tough times for him, he managed to maintain his adaptivity, and that led him to multiple successful movies.
He is a great example of maintaining patience and waiting for the right time to come. Currently, he has his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
How to Encourage Patience in the Workplace
Lead by Example
When you have a firm behavior you create a role model around you. People you communicate with adjust to your communication style.
If you are promoting patience and perseverance, you will help others build these traits themselves. It's amazing how much impact we have when working.
Be Supportive
Help out your teammates, and encourage them to do the same. Creating a work environment of mutual respect and collaboration will increase the patience among you.
If you know the answer to a question from any of your colleagues, take the initiative and reply as soon as you can. Consider this going the extra mile that will strengthen your job connections.
Recognize and Reward Patience
To go a step further into patience encouragement you can start noticing and mentioning it. Observe your teammates and thank them for waiting silently when they had a good reason to feel frustrated.
It's important to focus on the positive side of your job and the behaviors. When you make deliberate efforts to recognize the good, it will multiply in your work and life.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Patience is a valuable skill, especially in your professional life. You can reach new heights by learning the art of waiting for good opportunities.
Once you acquire this skill, you will become a living inspiration for others who will follow your lead. At first, it might seem like a hard job to relax when your surroundings are stressful. But as you grow this amazing quality within yourself, you will see how easier your work becomes.
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