patience

/ˈpeɪʃ(ə)ns/ noun

The ability to wait without becoming annoyed.
A strategy disguised as a temperament.

19 February 2026 · Utrecht · 1 minute

Patience is often described as a virtue, which makes it sound like something one is born with. In practice it is mostly arithmetic: knowing what waiting costs and what it earns.

An old saying, attributed to many

Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten.

A driver who waits ten minutes for a free charger is patient if they knew it would be ten. Tell them nothing, and the same ten minutes become intolerable. Patience needs a number.

The same holds for owning a company. Waiting for it to grow is easy when the reasons are written down and checked once a year. It is impossible when every month brings a new reason to doubt. See anchor and capital.