Particular Roads to Increased Patience
A professional athlete talks about what works excellently for them
Reliably developing patience is possible. It’s not simple.
“It is hard to be patient,” professional basketball player Aaron Gordon, a forward for the Denver Nuggets’ basketball team, told Rob Mahoney, writing at The Ringer.
“It’s something that you have to work on daily,” Gordon, a former NBA champion, has learned. He details the plan he follows to achieve it. “I write, I read, I meditate, I pray.
“I just make sure that my mind is clear, so I can be patient.”
Daily, he takes those steps because that’s the type, the level of commitment Gordon is convinced is necessary. That means he devotes daily attention, focus, learning, practicing, practicing some more and improving. He explained the “how” above too.
For Gordon, that package of strategy has proven to assist him in keeping his mind “clear” to improve decision making and being the person he feels is his best version.
He purposely invested in what would relax him emotionally and psychologically for the benefit of his self and his professional performance.
Those are not the only angles he takes to build his poise to maximize his best thinking and wisest behavioral response. Of course, patience would have to require more.
Gordon additionally “checks in with his anger, his envy, his ego,” he tells Mahoney. “He writes down what he’s grateful for. He notes things that he thought were negative, but were actually positive.”
Most people are not willing to confess, even to themselves, that it’s natural to feel envy and ego. That's not human nature to admit it’s part of them. Gordon admits that it is present in society and within himself and he has to make a concerted effort to address and manage it.
His reframing to examine and question negativity and writing down what he values and has in his life, as an act of gratitude, may be considered a flushing away of thought and belief “toxins” — or acting as a detective for what is reality.
This approach can prove helpful and effective for a cleaner mindset and a way to work through undesired or harder experiences in life.
Exhibiting patience with life, others and ourselves can be challenging and taxing. At times, it can seem impossible to retain or regain poise and do what needs to be done.
It's a hard-earned way of thinking and a rare life skill. Emotions and feelings are powerful and must be, if not mastered and conquered, then certainly well managed.
Having the available money — and committing the time — because he recognizes the importance of greater patience and being committed to having it as part of him, Gordon goes the extra mile to understand himself, his life and what he must do.
“I go to therapy, I talk to sports psychologists, I talk to gurus and swamis,” he says, “just so I can have a clear mind,” Gordon says. “So I can be patient. So I can allow everybody’s (teammates) game to flourish and not be a d*ckhead.”
Gordon values therapy, not an admission that everyone or most people are comfortable communicating because of the fear of negative judgment.
He talks as well about using the services of performance psychologists.
All this drive to gain patience as a mindset and response, to benefit his skills, potential, production and be a giving colleague (teammate) while also avoiding, at all costs, becoming and being a self-absorbed jerk that makes life hard on others and proving to be an impediment or full block of the mission.
Wanting patience this badly and pursuing it with passion can only help people personally and professionally become their strongest selves.
Thank you for reading this issue.
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