Patience is waiting while you work. Procrastination is waiting instead of working. Know which one you’re doing.

They look the same from outside and feel similar from inside, which is what makes the distinction useful. Both involve time passing with the goal unreached. The difference is whether anything is being built during the wait, and you can usually answer that honestly in about five seconds if you actually ask.

So ask, out loud, once a day, about the thing you are waiting on: what am I doing while this takes time. If there is an answer, you can relax. If there is not, you have found the thing to start, and it is probably the small unglamorous part you already know about.