Wednesday Wisdom: Instant Results vs Slow Down

Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Athletes, Small Businesses

Instant Pot Recipes. Instant Weight Loss Programs. Instant News. We live in an Instant culture now and the ways we receive instant pleasure isn’t getting slower, but speedy up. It can be dizzying at times. How frequently do we check our social media accounts to check on instant likes or wish the instant drive-through window was even faster than anticipated? How about wishing the ATM machine wouldn’t take so long spitting out our money? We just want crazy, instant everything. Impatience abounds.

Last week I had an instant notice a TV crew was going to follow me on a sporting challenge in Rochester. I had less than 24 hours to get the interview set up after sending the initial news announcement out 3 weeks prior. I suspected no one was interested in covering the story which happens. Instead, a fantastic young female reporter spent over two hours at the event filming and interviewing me and a woman who attended with me, reminding me that sometimes the news media takes its own time in deciding what stories are worthy of airtime.

After the interview debuted, another woman entrepreneur reached out to me and asked what the secret was behind getting the media to cover a story since she recently sent in a release and had no response. I told her, “It is all about their timing, not ours.” This is where living in an instant world can wreak havoc in our minds, and maybe our egos, when we don’t get the sudden response we expected.

Guess what? We need to remind ourselves that waiting a whole 2 minutes for an ATM exchange or even Lord forbid 5 minutes for a Wendy’s meal, or a couple days to get the likes we expect on our social media posts, is totally fine – and actually quick. Is it our thinking that limits us or others really? Ponder it the next time you are frustrated at the lack of response you are experiencing.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to remind you of a few things: Number one, the media is looking for cool, unique, and relevant news stories so don’t stop sending out press pieces if you don’t hear back on one release. Number two, contemplate how long you actually are waiting for something and see if it is reasonable in today marketplace versus your own potential impatience. Instead of fretting about wasting time waiting, decide what else to think to bring in positive vibes during that time? I, for one, say the rosary, and before I know it, I’m calm and next in line.

Maybe this spring is the perfect time to ramp down your expectations of instant gratification or service in a realistic, human world. We aren’t all machines, just humans doing our best to serve each other.