A short lecture by Brian Tracy on impatience as a human characteristic: humans prefer earlier to later satisfaction, which drives both positive outcomes (innovation, faster work, technological progress) and negative outcomes (cutting corners, unethical or illegal behavior). The speaker frames impatience as neutral in itself — useful in moderation but harmful when excessive.
Lets talk about another characteristic of human nature. When people say, well, that's just human nature, what does it mean? Well, it means that people are impatient now. Why is that? It's because rational, healthy people, human beings, prefer earlier to later in the satisfaction of any need or desire. In other words, we want it now. The earlier you receive any benefit, the less risk there is that you will not get it at all. In our fast moving society, they say instant gratification is no longer fast enough. Everyone is impatient. Everyone is in a hurry. Look how insistent children are in demanding that they be given what they want immediately. As a matter of fact, patience is something we have to learn as we grow up. And remember, adults are just children with better excuses. Impatience is neither good nor bad. It's only the way that it's manifested that determines whether it is viewed as positive, negative. Now there's a good side of impatience. Impatience can be positive when it motivates you to create innovative products and services that satisfy customers faster. Impatience can be good if it motivates you to work harder and faster to accomplish the same result so that you can get more of the things that you want earlier. The driving force of technological advancement for hundreds of years has been the desire to produce products and services, achieve goals, and get results faster than ever before. But there's a dark side of impatience as well. The dark side of impatience occurs when people cut corners or compromise quality, or step over or upon others to get the things they want faster than they're entitled to. The dark side happens when a person's impatience drives them to engage in illegal or harmful behaviors that hurts himself and others. In that case, impatience is a negative manifestation of human nature. So there's nothing wrong with being impatient. A little bit of impatience is very helpful in driving you forward. But too much impatience, if not carefully thought about, can cause you all kinds of problems. But impatience is just a part of human nature.
