“Patience is not simply the ability to wait—it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” - Joyce Meyer NIRANJAN GIDWANI

 

NIRANJAN GIDWANI CERTIFIED BOARD DIRECTOR (MCA - INDIA) | BOARD MEMBER | ESG DIRECTOR | DIGITAL DIRECTOR | FELLOW - BOARD STEWARDSHIP | MEMBER UAE SUPERBRANDS COUNCIL | HBR ADVISORY COUNCIL

 

 

 

Great achievements demand more than inspiration or ambition - they require a unique blend of a certain kind of PPT - Psychological Runway, Patience, and Time.

This crucial “runway” is an inner space of optimism, resilience, and enduring belief that allows a person, team, or institution to grow, adapt, persist, and finally soar past obstacles. The world’s most impactful creations and accomplishments - be they social movements, business empires, or personal mastery - demonstrate how greatness is never built in haste but instead incubates over seasons and sometimes generations.

The Concept of Psychological Runway

Psychological runway refers to an inner preparation - a mental, emotional, and motivational space - needed to sustain long-term ambitions. It is cultivated by setting meaningful goals, nurturing optimism amidst setbacks, and developing the patience to persist, especially when progress seems invisible. This runway is essential because most big dreams initially face resistance, repeated failure, and at times hostile indifference. Absence of psychological runway can lead to impulsiveness, disappointment, or giving up at the first sign of difficulty.

Just as a plane gathers speed before liftoff, humans must build up momentum, gather skills and internal strength before realizing something truly great. Motivation sparks beginnings, but patience extends their journey toward meaningful impact.

Patience: The True Engine Behind Success

Patience is often misunderstood as passivity or inactivity, when in reality, it’s a deliberate, focused endurance. Studies show that people who master patience are not only better at achieving complex goals, they also enjoy greater resilience and life satisfaction. In any journey toward excellence - whether scientific innovation, artistic mastery, or social reform - patience is required to refine ideas, adapt to changing realities, and persist despite delayed gratification.

Instead of expecting immediate results, those with patience see challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. Their progress may be slow, but it's steady - much like the careful accumulation of tiny improvements that ultimately lead to breakthrough.

 

Powerful Global Examples

Marie Curie:

Marie Curie’s journey in pioneering radioactivity research was marked by meticulous effort and steadfast patience despite significant barriers and skepticism from the scientific community. Facing gender-based discrimination and limited funding, Curie patiently pursued her groundbreaking experiments for years, eventually earning two Nobel Prizes and transforming medicine. Her psychological runway was her intellectual curiosity, resilience, and relentless persistence - qualities that allowed her to overcome repeated setbacks and achieve scientific greatness.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj:

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha Empire, consistently displayed exceptional psychological runway and patience by using innovative hit-and-run tactics against much larger Mughal forces. Building his empire required years of strategic adaptation, patience, and resilience amid constant threats. Shivaji’s ability to overcome adversity, stay flexible, and keep long-term goals in focus serves as a powerful lesson in how patience and psychological strength can build enduring legacies.

 

Nelson Mandela:

Nelson Mandela’s patience and psychological resilience were legendary. His 27 years in prison weren’t wasted; he deepened his understanding of justice, strengthened his moral resolve, and forged alliances that were crucial for the peaceful transition of South Africa. Mandela’s achievement - ending apartheid - was a triumph of patience and a testament to the power of an extended psychological runway.

 

Maya Angelou:

The iconic poet and author Maya Angelou famously said: “All great achievements require time.” Her life’s work, spread over decades, exemplified her belief in enduring through hardship, allowing talent and purpose to mature before bearing fruit.

 

 

Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google’s Founders): 

The story of Google shows how patience and sustained effort matter. Their search algorithm developed over years, facing skepticism and rejection before finally revolutionizing the world’s access to knowledge. Their psychological runway - bulwarked by belief and persistent iteration - turned an idea into a global phenomenon.

 

Why Modern Leaders Often Struggle to Walk the Talk

Today’s leaders often falter in patience and psychological runway due to the relentless speed and visibility of digital-age pressures. Many operate in environments that reward immediacy, short-term outcomes, and reactive decision-making over long-term vision. The prevalence of instant feedback, social media scrutiny, and rapid political or business cycles means leaders face chronic pressure to deliver fast results. As a result, enduring the setbacks and slow growth inherent in great achievements becomes less common, with many leaders losing sight of cultivating patience and deep resilience.

 

The Role of Emotional Strength and Positivity

A positive mindset is essential for patience - it transforms setbacks into learning, failure into feedback, and time into a friend rather than a threat. Psychological runway is expanded through mindfulness, gratitude, and emotional regulation, which in turn make patience more bearable and growth-oriented. Instead of ruminating on setbacks, resilient individuals focus on the opportunities provided by waiting, cultivating hope and determination.

Positivity fuels motivation, but it’s patience that sustains it when results are delayed. When motivation is paired with patience, setbacks become stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks.

Lessons for Businesses, Creators, and Leaders

• Growth is rarely exponential at the start - it’s gradual, hidden, and often discouraging.
• True mastery requires enduring repeated failures, learning from mistakes, and refining one’s approach.
• Short-term impatience may bring temporary relief or quick wins, but lasting greatness comes from sustained effort.

 

Great achievements demand a psychological runway built on patience, resilience, and time. Whether leading a nation, building an enterprise, or mastering a craft, greatness is slow-cooked - not fast-tracked. Success is not measured by how quickly something is completed, but by the depth of the journey, the character shaped along the way, and the enduring imprint made. Belief, positivity, and the willingness to wait - sometimes for years - are the hallmarks of all truly transformative accomplishments.

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” - Confucius.