ChAPTER 17 Patient P atience is a desirable quality but in our culture of instant gratification it's a rare one. Don't get me wrong, it's great that we have twenty-four-hour shopping, microwave ovens, immediate access to information and entertainment on demand. But having access to what we want, when we want is weakening one of our greatest attributes ­ the ability to wait. Research has shown that when children were given a choice of having one marshmallow now or two after completing a task, the children who were able to wait were more successful later in life. Having the ability to resist impulses matters. We may be born with different levels of patience. But we can all make improvements. It's like any other skill; it can be developed with practice. It's not easy. Even the best of us have to resist the need for speedy gratification. We speed up to beat the traffic lights. We speed up to get to the shortest queue. And even when we can't move faster, we hurry in the mind. It's as if we are on a drug. We get addicted to speed. But for a better and more fulfilling life we need to break the addiction. We need to fight against the quick-hit mentality.