This video is of a presentation by William Green who is the author of “Lessons from the Great Minds of Investing.” I haven’t read the book yet, but enjoyed this presentation. In the presentation, he shares insights he learned from studying great investors. His quest was to find out how these investors stacked the odds of success in their favor.

One of the lessons he shares around the 17:00 mark is “extreme patience.”

Historically, I haven’t been a very patient person. I’ve always thought nothing happens unless you make it happen. Well, this thinking has led me to make numerous mistakes over the last few decades. I’ve finally learned to use patience to my advantage. However, I’m far from perfect and still wrestle between action & patience.

When is it best to be patient?
When is it best to take action?

Think about these two questions, because they’re very powerful and may be extremely helpful in your life.

For me, I believe it’s best to be patient when…

1. Looking to buy, or acquire an investment property.
2. Hiring people. (Employees and/or contractors)
3. Screening and selecting tenants for income properties.
4. Health, fat loss, and strength training.
5. Training and teaching others. (Includes our children)
6. Relationships & people.
7. Learning something new.
8. Building a business.
9. With ourselves. It’s 100% okay to fail & make mistakes.

On the flip side, I believe it’s better to take action when…

1. You foresee a problem in the future. Take action now to mitigate this problem.
2. When something isn’t making you happy and taking action can improve the situation.
3. To make improvements in your life or day-to-day habits.

In a nutshell, I think I’ve come to these two overall conclusions around patience:

It’s best to be patient when the action you’re considering has the potential to be harmful.
It’s best to take action when being patient has the potential to be harmful.

Then after hitting save, I realized patience and action aren’t mutually exclusive.

Patience isn’t about not taking action. It’s about timing the right action.


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