Check our automatic responses

I hate inconveniences.

If you are in business like me, then you’ll understand what I mean when I say I operate by the minute. It means every task is calibrated. Preparing for a talk, doing a lecture, conducting a training, or doing a training needs analysis with my clients – all these have to be well-planned in advance.

But sometimes, despite excellent preparations, something could still go wrong. The computer could crash or the car could break down in the middle of the highway, or somebody’s car could break down and cause you to be stuck in traffic forever… This, while a big-time prospective client, who has agreed to spare you 10 minutes of his precious time, waits for the client call that you’ve worked months to secure and the presentation you’ve worked long hours to put together.

I hate inconveniences.

If you find yourself in such a situation, don’t lose your patience, else you suffer a heart attack. Always remember: It’s better to be last in the traffic lane than first in the funeral procession.

One cause of impatience is our automatic response. We are a people who jump into conclusions as we look at things with our preconceived ideas, beliefs, experiences, prejudices and colors. It’s quite usual to find ourselves losing patience as we jump into conclusions. Take the woman in this story for instance:

A woman was trying to board a bus, but her skirt was too tight and she can’t step up. She reached behind her, lowered the zipper a bit and tried again. Her skirt was still too tight, so she reached behind her and lowered the zipper some more. She still can’t get on, so she lowered the zipper a third time.

Suddenly, she felt two hands on her behind, trying to push her up onto the bus. She spun around and said very indignantly, “Sir, I do not know you well enough for you to do that!!!”

The man responded, “Lady, I don’t know you well enough for you to unzip the fly of my pants three times either!”

Do not jump into conclusions!

The great 19^th-century minister and author Oswald Chambers who has given us the immortal book My Utmost For His Highest, which is said to sell second best to the Bible, wrote, “Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly; many things lie unsolved, and the biggest test of all is that God looks as if He were totally indifferent.”

The secret of patience is doing something else in the meanwhile. Try WAITING!

Learn to laugh at yourself and your circumstances. Find the fun in your frustrations. On average, people with a sense of humor live longer than those who don’t. It is my firm belief that people who don’t have a healthy sense of humor die young. “A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life,” according to Proverbs 14:30 (LB).

We don’t stop laughing because we have grown old, but we grow old because we’ve stopped laughing. Having a healthy sense of humor is the best anti-aging system ever.

Learn to have fun, and learn to see the fun in situations. This way, we learn from each episode of life, and we do not take ourselves too seriously.

(Click to www.franciskong.com to find out how to receive daily inspirational quotes and thoughts from Francis, or visit facebook.com/franciskong2 for more details. His books Only The Real Matters and The Early Bird Catches the Worm But the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese are now available in Amazon Kindle.)