I remember visiting a doctor who kept a file of cards with the names and medical records of his patients. Seeing his system, I suggested, “Have you thought about digitizing those cards? You could do it in an instant, and it would be much faster and safer!”

He smiled at me kindly and replied without hesitation: Few things can be done in an instant.

This phrase has stayed with me, and I agree with it more and more each time.

• When I'm setting up an application or software, I remember: few things can be done in an instant.
• When I've been working on a DIY project for half an hour, I'm reminded: few things can be done in an instant.
• When I want to complete a project in a single day, I remember: few things can be done in an instant.

I had lunch with the CEO of a hospital who confidently stated: "Within a few months we will completely change the patient check-in process to a more agile format without human interaction." That lunch was 6 years ago, and the check-in process remains the same.

On another occasion, I was at a university that was about to implement a new CRM system, when the experienced project manager triumphantly stated: "Just press a button and the system does what we want." Apparently, nobody has pressed that button to this day.

Things take time. And we can confirm the same in the creation of new things:

• The Wright brothers first flew in 1903, but it wasn't until the 1950s that aviation became popular.
• Alexander Bell patented the telephone in 1870, but it only became commonplace for most families in the 1960s.
• John Bogle invented index funds in 1975, but they only became popular in the 1990s.
• 3D printing was heralded as something that would transform the world in 1989, but it wasn't until 2010 that it began to have widespread applications.
• The internet had its first version in 1969, but it only entered most of our lives in the 2000s.

There is a gap between innovation and adoption. As Stanford professor Paul Saffo summarized: “It takes 30 years for a new idea to infiltrate the culture. Technology doesn't drive change. It's our collective response that drives change.”

Why the delay?

Because things take time. Work takes time. Tasks take time. Unexpected events, complications, and delays always arise.
Because we, as people, take a long time to change.

Changing overnight? That's extremely difficult. Developing a habit takes time. Losing an old habit takes even longer.

What would happen if we arrived home and someone pointed a gun at us and said: tomorrow, either you arrive on time or you'll get shot? Maybe tomorrow we would arrive on time, but within days someone would surely show up shot.

Who likes to change overnight? Who can manage it?

Therefore, when interacting with colleagues, planning projects, or forcing change, we need to remember: people take time. We must allow room for error and delay (if we don't want to despair...). People may not like change, resist it, postpone it, or simply be torn between many other things. It's our nature.

Smart maturity

An older, wiser friend of mine once told me, "Maturity is the ability to live with unresolved problems."
For those who like to do things quickly and resolve all issues, it's a sign of maturity to understand that we can't solve everything today. It's maturity because it takes into account the complexity of the issues, the multiple people involved, and the understanding that what I wanted to happen isn't necessarily what will happen. "I'll close this matter today," say 90% of the people who didn't close the matter yesterday.

Let's remember Warren Buffett's quote: "You can't make one baby in a month by getting nine women pregnant...". There are things that can't be rushed, regardless of our resources, talents, or desires. Patience, discipline, and time are needed for things to develop naturally.

This is not about resignation. Who wants a paper archive or outdated systems when there are better alternatives?

Let us then seek to reconcile two forces: the healthy restlessness of questioning, innovating and wanting to do better, with the intelligent acceptance that things, and especially people, take their time.

The next time someone promises us that a problem will be solved quickly, that a new technology is imminent, that this time it will truly change everything, let's remember how long we've been meaning to change that simple and obvious thing at work or at home, but that we simply haven't changed.

Let us remember, as the good doctor used to say, that few things can be done in an instant.

We don't change in an instant.

Accepting this frees us – from unrealistic expectations and pointless haste – allowing us to make better decisions.