What D-Day Can Teach Us About The Importance Of Patience In Life

The Importance of Patience In Life 

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a Five-Star General of the United States Army and during WWII and he served as supreme commander of allied forces.

He was in charge of it all.

He was tasked to lead the D-Day invasions to liberate Europe and it was simply the largest land invasion force in history. Naval, air, and ground forces were all needed to work in unison for the mission to be successful.

The invasion was described as an intricate jigsaw puzzle, which each piece needed to fit perfectly.  Therein involved an obsessive amount of preparation, planning, and attention to detail, with the highest of stakes.

Herein lies the importance of patience in life.

The puzzle of the D-Day invasions also involved several allied countries and the world’s greatest political and military leaders. The egos, agendas, and the global leaders need for recognition led to critical complexity.

Besides the when, where, and mass secrecy needed for the amphibious landing, nothing had been left to chance.

Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion that involved approximately 156,000 American, British, & Canadian forces along five separate beaches across a 50-mile stretch in France.

To help illustrate the complexity of Operation Overlord,  in less than one month, over 850,000 soldiers, 570,000 tons of supplies, and 148,000 vehicles landed in Normandy, France.

However, even though everything had been accounted for, there was one piece that was out of their control.

The weather. 

The importance of patience in life and whether D-Day was to be successful depended upon optimal weather. Low tide, light wide, and good visibility were essential to success.

But, the weather outlook was not favorable and modern day technology was not available for forecasting. The weather outlook was so poor that many of the top German generals had taken leave away from the front lines and the possible invasions. Can you imagine? They “couldn’t wait” to take a break. 

General Eisenhower and others had to wait…It wasn’t until the day before on June 5th, that the order been given to proceed with Operation Overlord.

June 6th looked like the only opportunity for weeks.

Patience is the new mental toughness! 

How To Achieve Patience

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D-Day marked the start of the end of WWII and by the end of August 1944, the Nazi army was in full retreat out of France.

No one likes to wait, but we will have to wait in life. Eisenhower’s ability to wait for the latest weather is in part what allowed the allies to have such success!

The importance of patience in life is if you can wait, then you can win! 

Life and success is a game of attrition and timing. There will be times of “important urgencies” as well as times of waiting. Both are essential.

The skill becomes knowing WHEN to be urgent and HOW to be patient! 

Patience is essential! Have you ever drank wine before it’s ready? 

How to be patient

The results we want are always a long-term campaign. Just like the D-Day invasions, proper planning and patience is required. 

One ingredient called for within the recipe of success always includes short-term sacrifice for long-term achievement. Patience and over-valuing the long-term means going beyond time management hacks and tactics.

However, waiting in the short-term causes us to feel discomfort, unease, or uncertainty. The short-term is over-scrutinized and over-analyzed. The short-term focus isn’t incorrect, but it is incomplete. Hence, the short-term is simply a snapshot, not an entire movie.

Issues arise when we only focus on the short-term.

We immediately extrapolate it into the long-term. We think and act that just because the short-term is good or bad, then it will continue that way. We speculate and fast-forward through all of the positive and negative scenarios and outcomes.

The importance of patience in life is because we can’t fast-forward success or results. 

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. DRB & associates coach executives and professional athletes. Some clients have included three different winners on the PGA Tour, Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens.