We don’t like how long they’re taking to get back to us. It’s slowing down the process, keeping us from doing what we want to do. We don’t like the estimate from the vendor who just told us it will be an extra six weeks over the initial projections. We’re frustrated the investment advisor told us we won’t hit our goal until later than expected.

And there’s no question, this is annoying. It may well be fixable–if they could get their act together. But we don’t control that or them.

You know what we did control though? We controlled how long it took us to reach out to get that bid. We controlled how long that thing was on our to-do list, and the fact that we waited until now to get around to doing it. We’re the ones who hemmed and hawed about the decision that we’re now rushing.

A Stoic understands that they don’t control how long it takes other people to do things. Still, they don’t see themselves as powerless. No, they embrace the power they have–namely when they start the clock. Things take time, so why add time by being indecisive? By procrastinating? By sitting on things?

You don’t yell at paint for drying slowly, urging it to hurry up because you have guests coming over. You finish painting with enough time for it to do what it’s going to do. So it goes for life and other people. We can’t rush them along, but we can make sure we’re not unnecessarily tarrying, not adding to the clock on our end.

Accept that others are slow. If you need things to go faster, speed up on your end.