Here’s a principle I vehemently disagree with:
Good things come to those who wait.
You know who probably came up with that stylish piece of wisdom? Someone in a position of power, tasked with managing the masses and getting them to obey orders. You can hear a teacher saying that, can’t you?
Now, there, little Johnny, you’ve got to be patient—(STOP YANKING ON MY ****** TEE SHIRT, KID)—after all, good things come to those who wait.
The problem, of course, is that this kind of language gets internalized into our psyche. Hear something repeated enough times, and it becomes truth. We believe that good things come to those who wait, because we’ve been told to believe it.
But what if our beliefs were nothing more than a convenient set of white lies?
What if most of the things you believed about getting ahead in the world weren’t true? And what if most of the things you believed about yourself weren’t true, either?
How would it change the way you behave?
Would you finally pull the trigger? Would you step into the spotlight? Would you take the risk? Would you walk down the sidewalk like a motherfucking badass?
Good things don’t come to those who wait.
Good things come to those who wait for no one.