The Long Line Experiment

Patience isn’t just personal discipline. It’s environmental.

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During my last two years or so in Los Angeles, I conducted an experiment.

More often than not, when I went to the supermarket, I’d look for the longest line.

Then, I’d get in it. And stay in it.

No peeking over into other aisles, assessing how much was on the conveyor belt or in people’s carts so I could make a quick calculation and switch lanes.

This wasn’t in preparation for our move to Spain—that would only perpetuate the myth that everything here moves slowly and inefficiently.

This was a personal experiment. A way to work on one type of patience.

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Many Americans—myself included—have a sense of urgency.

Americans are trained to find the fastest line, avoid waiting, and to optimize everything. Freeway lane switching, boarding groups at the airport, making a beeline for the express checkout, productivity hack culture—it’s everywhere.

Americans waste an enormous amount of energy trying to reduce wait times.

In the end, they still wait all the time, improvise constantly, and optimize nothing. Yet, much of the population holds onto this badge of honor that it’s the most advanced, convenient, and efficient society in the world. Holding that belief is akin to accepting the Nobel Peace Prize from someone else as you wage war.

The seemingly counterintuitive part about Spain is that—no doubt—many people here don’t seem to be in a hurry. But, at the same time, most things I do in my daily life actually run far faster and far more efficiently than they did in the US—the grocery store, the bank, bureaucracy, plumbers, crossing the street or crossing town.

And the reason might just be that people aren’t always in a hurry.

I notice it in myself.

When my sense of urgency takes over—this need to get something done fast for no reason other than to get it done fast—sometimes whatever I’m doing doesn’t get done well. So I have to go back and run through it again, correcting errors I made in haste. Searching for anxiety relief—or some semblance of control—through urgency often produces the opposite effect.

A lot like stress (read the story at the link after you read today’s), not all patience is the same.

The Parts of Living in Spain No One Warns You About