Often I hear people say, “Why don’t I see results?” I’ve heard this saying from people who are trying to lose weight, from businesses and organizations who are trying new marketing and advertising techniques, from parents expecting their child to change their negative behavior(s), and from those who are trying to make a change in their life. The one thing all these people may have in common could be the feeling of wanting something that may be unable to obtain within a certain period of time. Here is an example of what I mean:
Someone may want to lose 20 pounds within one month. However, losing 20 pounds within one month may not be something that person is able to do. The person may be 140 pounds and may not have 20 pounds of weight to lose. The person may suffer from a health problem where an enzyme in the person’s body may be prohibiting weight loss. The person may be stressed from work, family, or friends in that month, which leads to gaining weight and emotional eating forbidding the person from losing his or her 20 pounds.
Which ever the case, it is important not to expect results over night. Change takes time. My personal weight loss story began in 2015. I lost 90 pounds in eight months. In 2017, I gained 20 pounds back. In 2018, I lost 10 pounds in five weeks. To be in a healthy weight range, I still have 25 pounds to lose. My weight loss journey is still not over three years later. My healthy lifestyle journey will last my entire life.
As much as I enjoy the help technology has provided my life, technology has made us expect things right away. I once read a statistic that said that 85% of people who own cell phones, own smart phones. On our mobile devices, we have many ways to communicate with each other. One of those ways is through text messaging. When text messaging first came out, it seemed as though it was important to text someone back within the first few minutes that a text message was received. It didn’t matter if we were in school, at work, or in the bathroom. If you didn’t text someone back right away, then there was a good chance that the other person on the other tend of the text was going to think that something was wrong, or someone was mad at them. From this sense of instant gratification from knowing that someone was thinking about you when a text message was received, people began to become dependent on their cell phones and enjoyed receiving digital communication.
Not only was it important to receive instant gratification from text messages, but now we can receive instant gratification from emails, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and various other communication platforms. Today, we can send someone a communication and possibly expect a response within 24 hours. Yesterday, I posted a question to my Facebook page and received 20 responses in less than 24 hours.
The sense of instant gratification has developed into a sense of urgency and want for results. Yes, it is possible to receive an answer to your question within one day. However, when you want results to something that does not require verbal/digital communication, and the results require an action, these results take time to produce and may not happen overnight.
Once a retired teacher told me a story about a previous student of his. The student of his came back to see him after it had been 40 years since he had been taught by the teacher. The student thanked the teacher for the education the teacher gave him. It took 40 years for the teacher to see the results of one of his students. Whether you are a marketer, a teacher, a parent, someone looking to lose weight, an owner of a business, or a student trying to get an A, be patient. Hard work takes time. Impact takes even more time. Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork wasn’t even famous until after he died. Now, he is one of the artists we learn about in school.
If you want to make an impact, it is important to realize that impact takes time.
1. Realize that you want to make a change.
2. Set goals to accomplish your change.
3. Try to make the change.
4. Recognize the strengths and limitations to the change you are making within yourself, your business, or to those around you.
5. Adjust your goals and actions of your change that will reflect the strengths and limitations you have observed.
5. Try to make the change again.
Try not to let instant gratification own you. Producing results takes hard work, time, and reflection (lots of reflection). Keep working toward your goals, be patient, and give yourself and others time.