Hey everybody, it's me, Charlie Hauck again, Vice President, Founder of Growth Dynamics, here for another shot of Fast Tip Friday magic.
One of the things that I think we've all been trained to trust and to sort of be part of our personal success practices in our lives is the phrase, "Good things come to those who wait."
I can't think of as many lines or ideas that have been as detrimental to the people I know in business development as that one. That’s as negative as it gets—“good things come to those who wait.”
Look, I’ve had my ups and downs in my career. I’m not afraid to share my story with anyone. But one of the things that I found I had to get over was waiting for others to make my results or my success better, just because I was willing to wait for them to get to me.
I believe in one of Steve Jobs’s best quotes of all time: the best way to predict the future is to create it.
And if you wait for the future to happen, you may wait and wait and wait patiently—and the world will pass you by. A great opportunity that you weren’t prepared to be looking for will pass you by and leave you standing on the corner wishing you had gotten on that bus.
And so I love patience. I love appropriate social behavior, where we're patient enough to let people finish their sentences. We're patient enough for people to really collect the facts that they need to make the right decision.
But I really think if you're going to be in business development, patience is one of those double-edged swords.
We can have a great meeting, which leads us to believe we should be patient about when we’re going to get the PO. Or you can have a great meeting and ask the right questions about what it takes, or what the next step is, to move this process to the right place—whether it's a yes or a no.
Being patient can really take a lot of energy away from you, because you may start a lot of things and find out your backpack is full of great opportunities, all of which go to hell as they rot in that same backpack due to your patience.
So be very careful about how much value you put in patience.
Don’t be afraid to want and create a great life. Don’t wait for someone else to tell you you can have it. Get it when you want it, and do the right things the right way—and it's all acceptable.
Thanks again for paying attention. Have a great day, have a great weekend, and make it a great year in 2026.
