transluzid

One of my most powerful tools to advance on my quest of life is tolerance.

In the past, many endeavors fell victim to rigid application of mostly self-inflicted rules or resolutions. I may resolve to write into my diary every day, for instance, to meditate for 40 minutes at 6am every day, or to always take the stairs instead of the elevator.

“Strictness” or intolerance will eventually always lead to the situation where there is some reason, be it “justified” or not, to break the rule or resolution. And to then condemn myself for “failing”, not even being able to follow my own rules - what a horrible loss of face - and then end up scrapping it altogether, out of disappointment.
Over the past years, in contrast, I have learnt to actively counter this impulse by using the “imperfection” of the real world and profiting from its creative and happiness generating potential.

I set a rule of meditating daily - no matter at what time and for what duration. Or of taking the stairs to our apartment on the sixth floor unless the elevator is already at the ground floor when I enter the building (which happens very rarely). Or of flossing my teeth only every other day, instead of every day - which is still way better than flossing them daily for a while until I fail to and then stop doing it altogether.

The effect of applying “the tolerance tool” is a much more resilient practice to pursue the goal of inner robustness. I maintain my “rules” for years instead of weeks or months, and in addition, I get to enjoy “breaking a rule” with relish and in a fully controlled way. Imagine how I enjoy that rare ride on our super fast elevator, or how I am glad I can sleep in without “having to meditate”, or how I can fall to bed because I had already sat in the afternoon.

Obviously this post is meant to challenge you to think about the many things that you “always wanted to do” but never manage to do regularly, or about the ways in which we can apply “the tolerance tool” in other scopes, like our relationships, or in our business.

Does an example cross your mind? How would you apply “the tolerance tool” to it?