Impatient with Actions, Patient with Results
Introduction
A student once asked Epictetus how he could get his brother to stop being angry with him. Epictetus answered with an image from farming. Nothing great comes into being all at once, he told him—not even a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me right now that you want a fig, I will answer that it takes time: first let the tree blossom, then bear fruit, and then let the fruit ripen. And if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity in a single hour, do you expect to harvest the fruit of a human mind in an instant?
Epictetus's reply points to one of the most common mistakes in any process of change: impatience for results. People want to lose in a month the weight they gained over ten years, heal a relationship in a single conversation, or master a skill in a few weeks.
Most people do the exact opposite of what works: they are patient about starting and impatient about seeing results.
This article proposes flipping that combination around, following an idea Marcos Vázquez formulates in Invicto: be impatient with your actions and patient with your results.
The Wrong Combination
Many people put off taking action ("I'll start Monday," "when I have more time") and then, once they finally begin, demand immediate results. If after two weeks the scale hasn't budged or the skill hasn't noticeably improved, they conclude it isn't working and quit.
This combination carries a double cost. Delaying the start wastes time. Impatience for results leads to quitting right when the process was beginning to take hold—or chasing shortcuts that promise everything and deliver very little. People who jump from one quick fix to another usually end up achieving nothing, because none of their efforts was given enough time to bear fruit.
The Right Combination
The alternative is the exact reverse:
- Impatient with actions: stop procrastinating. Start today, even if it is with something small. Do what needs to be done each day without waiting for ideal conditions.
- Patient with results: accept that results arrive at their own pace, that this pace is not entirely up to you, and that it is often slower than you would like.
This combination fits naturally with the dichotomy of control. Your actions are up to you—which is why it makes sense to press ahead with them. Results depend in part on external factors, your body, other people, and time—which is why it makes sense to wait for them calmly.
Nature Has Its Rhythms
The Stoics insisted on living in accordance with nature, and nature teaches patience. No farmer gets angry because seeds do not sprout the day after planting. They know there are seasons, and that their job is to prepare the soil, sow, water, and tend. Time does the rest.
The same holds true for the body and the mind. Muscle strength, fat loss, a new skill, trust, or a habit all take weeks or months to consolidate. Some methods work better than others, but none of them skips time. And often the slow route turns out to be the shortest one, because it doesn't force you to start over from scratch.
Thinking in Years
Marcos Vázquez offers a helpful perspective in Invicto: the great works of history, such as cathedrals that took generations to build, were made by people capable of thinking in the long term. If you want your own life to be a good work, it pays to measure progress in years—even decades—rather than weeks.
That does not mean giving up on tracking short-term progress. It means choosing the right scale: one bad week says almost nothing; a year of steady practice says a great deal.
Enjoying the Process
If the result takes time, the process has to be livable. A few ways to make it so:
- Celebrate small steps. Every completed workout, every day without the habit you are trying to quit, every page written.
- Measure what is up to you. Consistency, hours of practice, days completed—not just the final outcome.
- Look backward, not only forward. Comparing where you were three months ago with where you are today often reveals progress that remains invisible when you only stare at the finish line.
- Enjoy what is already here while the rest is on its way. The present is not a waiting room.
When Patience Becomes a Mistake
Being patient with results does not mean sticking forever with something that isn't working. If after a reasonable amount of time and consistent practice there is no progress at all, it makes sense to review your method. Stoic patience is not stubbornness: it is giving a well-designed approach enough time before judging it.
To tell whether it is time to adjust, ask yourself:
- Have I truly been consistent, or have I had lots of interruptions?
- Have I given this the amount of time this kind of change usually takes?
- Am I measuring the right thing?
- What would someone experienced in this area say?
Common Mistakes
- Judging the process after a single week. Short-term fluctuations are normal, especially in body weight and learning.
- Chasing shortcuts. Promises of fast results usually send the bill later.
- Confusing patience with passivity. Be patient with results, not with actions.
- Quitting on a plateau. Almost every process of change hits flat stretches. Often they are the prelude to the next breakthrough.
Conclusion
Epictetus reminded his student that even a fig needs time to blossom, bear fruit, and ripen. This week, pick the goal you feel most impatient about and make two lists: the actions that are up to you and that you can start today, and the results that depend on time. Start today with the first list, and instead of checking the outcome every day, track for one month how many days you completed your actions. At the end of the month, compare where you are with where you started.
References
- Epictetus. Discourses, I.15.
- Diogenes Laertius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, VII.26.
- Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998-1009.
- Vázquez, M. (2019). Invicto: Logra más. Sufre menos. Fitness Revolucionario.