I published, It Takes Patience, during these challenging times with the hope it inspires children to find their 'voice', adults to rekindle their past and soak in the nostalgia, and families to connect meaningfully.

The story is told through the eyes of seven-year-old Patience, multiracial and living in a small town in Appalachia, as she learns resilience, creativity, passion, and self-reliance through her own self-discovery.

I consider it particularly meaningful because it offers a creative outlet for children and emphasizes their empowerment and mindfulness; features a strong intergenerational and matrilineally focused home; explores diversity and inclusion; and promotes the lesson of self-improvement through struggle, resilience, and passion.

Testimonials

I have the greatest job in the world. I get the opportunity to help children and their families through extremely difficult times of their lives, ensuring that every child with a horrible disease gets the best possible care. And while sometimes there are tough times, I’m always amazed and inspired by the resilience of these precious kids. Idan Ravin’s new children’s book, It Takes Patience, exquisitely captures the internal fortitude and joy that I’ve seen in children. This 32-page beautifully illustrated book takes us through the adventures of Patience, as she tries to bake the perfect loaf of cornbread for her Nana, but his book is much more than a lesson in the kitchen. His book represents the resilience, strength and courage I know all children have because I witness it everyday.
-Dr. Mark Krieger: Surgeon-in-Chief and Director of the Neurological Institute at Children's Hospital Los Angeles

It takes Patience by Idan Ravin, is a heartwarming story about the relationship between seven-year-old, Patience, and her grandmother. It touched me as a father of two precious girls who are at age of discovery and self-exploration. In only 1000 words, Idan has found a way to communicate the importance of passion, struggle, resistance, resilience and the value of discovering your own unique voice. Lessons I hope my daughters will learn when they discover the magic they have within.
-Eric Dane: Actor

I have known Idan for many years personally and professionally.  His unique career path demonstrates the life lessons he shares with his family, friends and clients--that believing in yourself and having the determination to persevere will lead to success. I know this from my own experience as the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar health care company and it is a lesson I have shared with my children and my five young grandchildren. Idan's book, It Takes Patience, should be in every child's library at home. It teaches children to listen to their inner voice and to pursue the passion inside of them.  Kudos to Idan for sharing his teachings with the next generation!  
-Mark Tabak: CEO, Multiplan

It Takes Patience is more than an inspiring children’s book. It is a time machine that transported me back to my childhood, my grandmother’s kitchen, baking – singing - playing. For all of us who treasure the wonderful moments we shared with our grandmother, this book is worth its weight in gold.
-Mike Hillman: Managing Director, First American Title (NYSE: FAF) 

I met Idan when I invited him to speak at my firm's global offsite a few years ago. I'd read about his inspiring journey, and how he’s shaped the careers of many of the best basketball players in the world. My firm and I loved our experience with him, and it definitely inspired us to see opportunity, performance, and greatness in a different light. With his book, It Takes Patience, Idan has demonstrated eloquently the importance of family, purpose, authenticity, and finding your “voice." I have four teenage sons and sit on the Board of a charter school with whom I plan to share the book in the hopes they will hear Patience’s voice far after they finish reading, and apply those important lessons to their own lives. 
-Allen Thorpe: Partner – Hellman & Friedman, Founding Board Chair – Zeta Charter Schools

As a father of a precious little girl, I was inspired when reading “It Take Patience." The story articulates beautifully, the life lessons we seek to bestow upon our next generation. This is a story of love and resiliency bringing joy to a family and confidence to a little girl; a book that parents and children will find inspiring and heartwarming.
-John Greene: CFO, Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS)

It Takes Patience hit home on so many levels. I grew up with two loving, caring, and nurturing grandmothers who played a very big role in my upbringing and still play a big role in my life today. Like my grandmothers, Nana had the perfect balance between showering Patience with love, warmth, and endearment while also empowering Patience and giving her the independence to find her OWN way through extreme resilience and perseverance. These virtues can seldomly be taught in a classroom or in a parenting guide book very much like the cornbread could not have been baked to perfection with a written recipe and exact measurements. Grandmothers seem to always know the exact buttons to press at the right times. I thank Idan for giving me this story to refresh so many fond memories of my childhood and I can’t wait to read this wonderful story to my own children.
-Joseph Sutton: Partner, Wharton Properties.

Inspiration for the Book

Early Years

Brown bag lunch, bagel with cream cheese, Coca Cola—each day from 7th to 12th grade...

I grew up in an observant Jewish home, eating foods we’ve all seen at the deli, like blintzes, knishes, matzo balls, and kugel. On special occasions, falafel, kebab, pita and hummus, and Israeli salad made an appearance. My family rarely went out to eat and there weren’t a thousand cooking shows playing on our six-channel television, so I hadn’t seen or tried much else.

After college, I moved west for law school and became a typical law student, studying too much, exercising too little. One night, my stomach was rumbling so loudly I was getting shushed by the law librarian. Fully embarrassed, I packed up my books and headed to the grocery store to push my cart through the aisles, looking for something that would satisfy me.

For some reason, I stopped in front of a boxed cornbread mix. Never had cornbread, but it included two things I liked: corn and bread. The recipe seemed simple, and I was pretty sure I couldn’t screw it up even if I hadn’t baked before. My cornbread came out sweet and moist, filled my belly, and worked just right with my tight law school budget. I was hooked after that. Boxed, pre-made, gourmet, you name it, I loved it.

Find Your Cornbread

Fast forward several more years. I’d transitioned from practicing law to training NBA and WNBA players in a move that no one could have predicted, least of all myself. (You’ll have to read my first book, The Hoops Whisperer, to understand how that miracle happened.) Now happy, excited, independent, and living a dream, the most important thing was that I’d found something I loved waking up to every day.

My journey was called unconventional, improbable—even inspiring. I’d found my passion, and suddenly I was bombarded by media, friends, the general public, all wanting a blueprint to success. I’d managed to intersect my personal and professional life, and now everyone wanted the answer to the Holy Grail: how do you monetize a passion?

“Find your cornbread,” I’d tell them, but they never understood, so I’d explain it like this:

Find something you love, regardless of how silly it might sound to others, and put your all into it. For me, it was training basketball players. For Patience, it’s baking cornbread. It’s not about chasing money, fame, applause, a return on your investment of time; those are just trappings with a sneaky tendency to sabotage dreams. Find something you’re really devoted to—and then work tirelessly to achieve it.

At first, you’ll stink. Persist. After a year, you’ll get better. Persist and create. After another year, you’ll get even better. Persist, create, become self-reliant, and discover. After another year, you’ll become pretty good. Continue to persist. Then one day it happens. For me, an NBA player offered to pay me to train him even though I would have happily done it for free. For Patience, she loves baking cornbread, and eventually her cornbread becomes so scrumptious she can share it with the people she loves.

It is this message of finding your way through passion, joy, self-reliance, persistence, discovery, and creativity that I wanted to share with It Takes Patience. And I hope it inspires children and adults to find their cornbread.

Patience & Family

We’re all a mishmash of community, ethnicity, and experience. Me—parents from Israel and Russia; Hebrew—my first language; the professional athletes I’ve trained—Chinese, Korean, West Indian, Croatian, Nigerian, Serbian, Slovenian, Italian, Puerto Rican, and American, among others. We came together because of our love for the game. Like sport, preparing and sharing food can forge meaningful connections, bringing people together who otherwise would not have a chance to meet. I hoped that seeing the magic Patience creates in the kitchen would inspire readers to appreciate the magic that happens when we put love in our food and food in the people we love.

I wanted to find a community to reflect our cultural melting pot and to center the story around a home, with a strong matrilineal voice and connection, similar to how I grew up. I picked the Melungeon from Appalachia to reflect our collective diversity, and my reference point for Patience and her family.

Melungeon refers to a community of European, African, and Native American ancestry living in the southeastern United States, including central Appalachia, in particular made up of Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish, Turkish, American Indian, Sub-Saharan African, and Romani ethnicities. Their identity inspired me and gave context to my cornbread metaphor. Like the Melungeon, I deliberately created Patience and her family to be multiracial because Patience is all of us and It Takes Patience is written for everyone.