I could say a lot on this subject, but for now, I’ll make this quick (which is ironic in light of the topic at hand). I believe that doing things of great value takes time. This applies to software, research, education, business, relationships, sports, and every area of life. I experience this reality on a daily basis as my passion is writing software. Good software and powerful tools just take time to design, develop, and refine. For me, ideas often come in virtually instantaneous flashes of insight, but it takes a lot more time to make those ideas a reality and one has to be willing to invest time. One of the first things I tell anyone who asks me how to learn a programming language is that it will take time. Work like crazy and cover as much ground as you can, but realize that it will still take time. Even at a high velocity, it still takes light around 8 minutes to go from the sun to the earth. No matter how ‘fast’ or ‘smart’ you are, things of great value take time.

To be clear, I’m not saying we should expect slowness or that we should acquiesce to broken processes which waste our time, but don’t go through life thinking you will accomplish great things overnight. Give it time! Rome wasn’t built in a day.