Have a little…patience

Most of us today are ‘on’ all of the time, as in we’re permanently ‘switched on.’ Whether we’re on our phones, our tablets or computers, we’re always on a constant quest for an endless stream of live information, every hour of every day. It can be exhausting.

Have you ever noticed how we can’t even sit through an ad break on the TV anymore? That is if anyone even watches live TV anymore? And doesn’t just digitise and programme every single segment of information they watch into a carefully curated, never-ending narrative of their own making…anyway, I digress. My point was that most people are so bored with digesting a 3 minute advert break these days that they spend that time mindlessness scrolling through their phone in order to stay stimulated. Some people can’t even take a quick toilet break without opening up Instagram…

It’s like we’re constantly trying to wish the time away, speed things up and make life go quicker. Waiting for a train? Check your phone. Waiting for a friend at a restaurant? Scroll, scroll, scroll. Having an intrusive medical exam? Obviously watch some YouTube GOT fan theory videos (not long now guys!!). It seems that time spent without a piece of technology attached to it is perceived as being time wasted – basically we’re having an impatience epidemic and it’s effecting us all.

If you don’t believe that it’s really that bad then know this – due to smart tech, the average attention span is now 8 seconds. 8 seconds. What can anyone, besides a Hollywood action hero, achieve in 8 seconds? It’s an embarrassing amount of time spend on anything. Our brains are being re-wired in how we digest life and the result is that we are forgetting that sometimes, good things take time.

With so many things buzzing around in our heads, coupled with an overwhelming desire for instant gratification, we’re in danger of losing the ability to create great work because we are not giving ourselves enough time. Achieving greatness is not an overnight success – despite what younger generations are being force-fed by the reality shows they devour – creating a masterpiece sometimes requires the ability, and willingness, to be frustrated.

“I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise.” ~ Jessica Savitch

This is important. We need to remember to enjoy the journey and take pride in everything that we do, as this is part of the richer tapestry of all that is to come. Our lack of patience is causing us to employ a ‘throw away’ mentality where everything, and everyone, becomes disposable, and it just ain’t cool.

The belief that you must walk into any job (or project) and have a resounding impact straight away or else everyone will lose patience and get bored, is ineffectual and is not conducive for real, and lasting, long-term success – so don’t lose patience with yourself when things don’t immediately turn into a metaphorical (or physical) pot of gold in front of you, because the things in life that really matter, take time and consistency.

Currently the human race is used to a very fast pace, and whilst this kind of progress is also very positive – I mean, look how far we’ve come? It does also mean than anything less than immediate is boring to us now. So, for creativity and innovation to flourish, maybe we should all attempt to seek out a little less novelty and try instead to have a little patience in the world around us, and embrace the gift of time before rushing to our phones first for that extra rush of dopamine.

At Pistachio, we like to make sure that we are always producing our very best work for our clients – and whilst we like to practice what we preach and spread the word of patience in pursuit of greatness – we are also here to make sure that our clients objectives, visions and campaigns are brought to life as quickly, and efficiently, as possible. So, if you’d like to chat to us about you’re the next step on your brands journey to success, get in touch today!