Part of keeping power is patience, you are correct. But the vast majority of gaining it and exercising it is dependency. Power, practically speaking, is a function of having others dependent on you, in whatever form that happens.

Titles, offices, and even to some extent military prowess, are all only as powerful as the strength of dependency others place on their exercising. I can give you a piece of paper that says you are the god-emperor of all humanity, and it means nothing unless a fairly large chunk of that humanity is entirely dependent on you to provide for them.