Martian Thoughts

The impatience loop

Impatience leads to action and action to results. Leaders are often tempted to urge followers to act now and produce more. Deadlines are meant to spur workers on. Crisis meetings are scheduled to question why the work teams committed to deliver failed to materialise. More often than not, doers are too busy to analyse the results and too ready to act again.

The obvious problem – at least for any patient, semi-intelligent being – is that suboptimal achievements often carry side effects, side effects cause delays, and delays feed impatience.

It is a loop that needs breaking. We might as well rush to do that.