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What the Dalai Lama and Gary Vaynerchuk say about patience

The Dalai Lama and Gary Vaynerchuk might have more in common than you think.

Shane Breslin

By Shane Breslin

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
― Benjamin Franklin

Here are two things that I do every day.

  • I make my bed
  • I brush my teeth

Here are two other things that I also do every day.

  • I listen to podcasts
  • I engage on Twitter

This week, listening to podcasts and checking in on Twitter, I was struck by a common theme that ran through pronouncements from two people I admire greatly, but who we might usually think of as being poles apart: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and foul-mouthed modern communications kingpin Gary Vaynerchuk.

The Dalai Lama will probably not be negotiating seven-figure deals with sports stars or media brands any time soon, while Gary Vee is unlikely to be leading any spiritual retreats – at least not before he buys the Jets.

But cut through the tone and drill down to the content, and you might find a lot of common ground.

On Monday the Dalai Lama tweeted about patience, while Vaynerchuk was a guest on Lewis Howes’s School of Greatness podcast.

Here’s what they had to say about the subject of “patience”.

The Dalai Lama

Gary Vaynerchuk

It is the disease of our society, The lack of patience, bro. Patience and insecurity are 90% of the unlock for everyone listening. Their mom shitted on them their whole life and said they’re going to be a loser, so they believe it. Coz that’s what parenting is.

And they just want to have a Maserati now, and they’ll do whatever it takes to do it.

Do you know how many kids are doing something smart, like doing a good retail arbitrage on Amazon right now and making $100,000 by buying on Alibaba and selling on Amazon. Took a year and a half, three years to get good at it. Now [they’re] taking every profit and buying some random cryptocurrency because they’re playing the Lotto!

We have to have these conversations.

There’s a kid who spent three years being disciplined and getting good at retail arbitrage. That’s a real skill, to have an eye for what to buy in China, how to set up on Amazon properly, how to run ads, it’s a skill! They did it for three years meticulously, they made $13,000, then $47,000, now they’re finally making $300,000 and they could be on their way to 10 million.

Yet, they’ve chosen to kind of stop. Jump on the short-term bandwagon of buying some weird cryptocurrency, hoping it’s the next Bitcoin or Ethereum. I’m seeing that every day, and it’s being predicated on short-term … The ‘follow the leader’ shit, completely predicated on short-term.

Patience is, I believe, a core element of happiness.

This post is part of my Happiness Project.

I send two regular emails: a Happiness Bulletin every Saturday morning, and a slightly longer, deeper newsletter on the theme of happiness on the first Friday of every month.

Sign up for my Happiness Bulletin here

 

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