Why Are Men Impatient?

A participant in our last Celebrating Men, Satisfying Women workshop was of the opinion that men were impatient. Speaking from personal experience, and as a man, I said I would have to agree. Bette and I believe the consensus of the other women in the workshop made it unanimous. Why are men impatient? And, is there a good reason for it?

Many women notice how men appear somewhat “limited,” only being able to do one thing at a time. In contrast, women are multi-tasking maniacs, doing all kinds of tasks at once. In Celebrating Men, Satisfying Women we explain the differences in the design of men and women, and how differences in design show up as differences in our behavior. This is actually a good thing, and learning why affords our graduates with a lot of freedom and less stress.

Anyway, a man who is doing that one thing at a time gets frustrated when something stands in the way of him finishing what it is he’s doing. I know, a woman would suggest he do something else in the meantime, but men aren’t built that way. His frustration is often expressed as impatience, and it causes the women around him to become anxious.

The actual mechanism is way more complicated than I can go into here, but we spend a lot of time on it in the workshop. Once they see how the entire process works, participants learn how to use what they know to get they need from men, without causing upset for themselves or for the men in their lives.

Consider the men in your life, when they’ve been impatient, and how it affected you. Perhaps knowing that men are actually intended to behave differently from women will help prevent some of the tension you’d be feeling in similar, future situations.