Study confirms we are very impatient.

The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, recently reported a study that confirmed what we know about ourselves: people are impatient - “not only when thinking about whether to wait or not for a larger reward in the abstract, but they are even more impatient when they actually must wait to receive a larger reward.” In other words, people in the study preferred smaller payoffs sooner.

In the real world, this isn’t always true. But if we’re honest with ourselves, most of us must admit that - at times - we are impatient.

Although our impatience influences many things in life. for me it has special resonance in mediation and our management of the pandemic. Although some lawyers realize the mediation process takes time, many do not - they want to see the mediation magic happen quickly. It just doesn’t work that way. It takes time to develop rapport and redirect the conversation toward the future.

Regarding the pandemic, had we (in the USA) locked down earlier and for longer, I believe that we would see fewer “hot spots” throughout the country. Unfortunately, I think we’re in this for the long haul as a result.

Here’s the article reporting on the study.