I think being aggressively patient is teachable as long as the person has a basic understanding of delayed gratification and long-term thinking.
Trying to derive the meaning of "aggressively patient" from these two words will interpret into something like someone who's so forcefully or intensely patience.
In reality or in this context, the actual meaning is someone who's impatient with their actions but patient with the results of their actions.
To put it in more context, let's take an example of a farmer planting an orchard of fruit trees.
Experienced farmers know it will take years before the trees bear fruit, but this doesn't justify for them to remain passive much along the process. Instead, they work tirelessly every day or two – preparing the soil, planting the saplings, setting up irrigation systems, pruning, protecting the young trees from pests etc.
Aggressive and relentless with daily actions, while still maintaining the patience to wait 5-7 years for the trees to mature and produce a full harvest.
In a way, one could see it as taking two very opposite endpoints and combining them together into a single powerful mindset that drives sustainable success.
Sustainability Square
In my view, such a paradoxical combination - being intensely active in the present while maintaining calm patience about future outcomes - is what separates sustainable achievement from both hasty shortcuts and passive waiting.
Not that I'm not a fan of passive waiting (there can be some wisdom in that), but there's a certain complacency that comes with mistaking patience for inaction, often leading to regret when opportunities slip away permanently.
Hasty shortcuts on the other hand, are just that, shortcuts. You never really arrive at any destination (e.g wealth) as a resident. More like a tourist that visits for some time and then gets expelled back to where they started, always worse off than before.
I think what trumps this seemingly paradoxical combination is it resolves the apparent conflict between urgency and patience.
In a strictly linear way of thinking, you can't have a keen sense of urgency and be patient at the same time. It's similar to when they say "you can't be wise and in love at the same time." The point I'm trying to make is that these apparent contradictions only exist when we view them through a narrow, either-or lens.
In that sense, rather than choosing between "hurry up and get results" or "just be patient and wait," it channels the energy of urgency into the actions while applying patience to the expectations.
Managing expectations isn't just about lowering them or extending timelines. But having a sustainable rhythm of consistent progress without the burnout of demanding immediate results or the stagnation of passive waiting will do the job of naturally aligning our expectations with reality.
On a macro level, as a global citizen, this might be a great way to combine the essence of both Western and Eastern cultures. The best of both worlds.
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