Patience Compounds Like Interest

When I think about patience, I don’t think about meditation or mindfulness apps.
I think about my dad, sitting with when I was a kid, trying to help me figure out whatever subject I was struggling with that week.

He didn’t always know the material as it pertained to the curriculum (he worked as teacher during that time, but one teacher can only master so much subject matter at once) sometimes he had to learn the finer details with me to help me improve.

He’d go through the material, reread the same page with me a few times, and somehow still manage to make me feel capable instead of stupid.

He didn’t rush me. He didn’t shame me for not getting it right away. He held me accountable to keep trying, keep pushing and don’t just quit.

There were countless times I’d have outbursts or storm out of the room and he didn’t hold it against me.

He just met me where I was, and that patience became one of the greatest investments of my life giving me a massive advantage in the work I do and the connections I maintain.

Now, years later, I find myself on the other end of that equation.

He calls me for help with his phone, computer, or with something that doesn’t make sense about his emails or a scam phone call they got at the house. And I feel no frustration, no urge to speed him up — because I remember those kitchen table nights.

I do my best to be the calm in the storm.

It’s because of how both of my parents raised me, holding me to a high standard but softening when it was clear to them I wanted to improve, that I help them as much as I can as an adult. Whether through their phone bills, their computer, their fitness, or just getting where they need to be without unnecessary stress.

Patience compounds like interest. It grows, it multiplies, and one day, it pays you back in ways you never expected.

I believe the patience I give so many in my life will - if nothing else - teach them what it feels to have someone patient in their life.

In a world of fast track, scaling, biohacking, skip-the-line, express lanes, we need a few old fashioned people to teach you how to slow down your breathing, look at the page a second time, and dig in until the work is done.

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The Wealthy Barber and the Wealth of Patience

In 2016, I listened to The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton — a book that has shaped how I think about both money and life.

I was listening to it as an audiobook while sorting stainless steel in a pipe yard in my former career. And then listened to it a second time while painting my hallway.

Later, in recent years when I started listening to The Wealthy Barber Podcast, I realized that so many of Chilton’s financial lessons overlap perfectly with the emotional and relational lessons we all need.

Here are five principles from The Wealthy Barber that go far beyond finances — principles that help us take control of our expectations, relationships, and the trajectory of our lives.

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1. Pay Yourself First

Financially, it means putting a portion of your income aside before spending.
Personally, it means reserving a portion of your patience, time, and energy for your own growth before giving everything away.

When my dad helped me with homework, he was investing his patience.
He didn’t expect immediate returns, but years later, that investment is what allows me to stay calm when he asks for help.

It’s the same in life — if you don’t protect your capacity first, you’ll have nothing left to offer others.

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2. Live Beneath Your Means

Chilton uses this to warn against lifestyle inflation — the creeping tendency to spend more just because we can.

In relationships, it’s the same with our emotional bandwidth.
If you give every ounce of energy to keeping everyone happy, you’ll burn out before you can show up where it really matters.

This is a lesson that many people who align with me need to learn around bandwidth.

But bandwidth and what “must be done” is also something that you can reframe for yourself around expectations that you have.

You can bring abundance to other’s lives, but you have to remember that you’re only living one day at a time. So when you look at your week, and see all the things that require your time or energy, you’ll feel like you’re in a deficit if you’re thinking you have to do Friday’s commitments on a Thursday.

Whereas if you’re grounded in a one-day-at-a-time mentality you’ll surprise yourself with what you can do in a mere 4 hours.

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3. Understand What You Own and Why

In the book, this means understanding your investments instead of chasing trends.
In life, it means understanding your values, commitments, and people.

You can’t help someone if you don’t first understand what they need — or who they are.

You also can’t help yourself if you continue to give yourself reasons for it to not work.

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4. Don’t Try to Get Rich Overnight

Chilton preaches patience over shortcuts. Real wealth builds quietly through consistent habits, not big leaps.

Patience with kids — or anyone, really — works the same way.
You can’t download understanding or buy maturity. You have to show up consistently, even when it feels slow.

Growth doesn’t always look like progress. But it’s happening underneath, waiting for time to do its work.

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5. Enjoy the Journey — Wealth Is More Than Money

In The Wealthy Barber, Chilton reminds us that success isn’t just about the number in your account; it’s about the quality of your days and the relationships you keep.

My dad probably doesn’t remember every page he re-taught himself or every math or science question he walked me through.

But I remember how it felt.

And that’s the real return on investment — the kind that can’t be taxed or tallied.

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Closing Thoughts

Patience isn’t passive.
It’s an active form of love, an intentional slowing down to let something — or someone — grow.

When we give it, we’re not just helping in the moment; we’re setting up a ripple effect that echoes years later.

My dad’s patience taught me how to learn.
Now it’s teaching me how to give back.

That’s wealth.
And it compounds beautifully.