Struggling to Keep Going This Might Help

Dear Aditya,

A few days ago, I was thinking about what it takes to keep on going when life, or work, throws everything back at you. When things just don't go your way. In those moments, it's not about being the smartest or having all the answers, is it? It's about staying the course, holding on to your vision when things don't go as planned.

This reminded me of the Chinese bamboo farmer. A farmer plants bamboo seeds and waters the soil day after day. Nothing happens. He keeps going, weeks turn into months, months into years, and still, nothing. After five long years, just when most of us would've walked away, the bamboo finally breaks through the soil. And in the next six weeks, it shoots up nearly 80 feet. That miraculous growth wasn't sudden, it was five years of invisible work, the roots growing strong enough to support what was to come.

J.K. Rowling got rejected 12 times for the same manuscript. She didn't quit, even as a single mom struggling to make ends meet. Howard Schultz, the man behind Starbucks, heard "no" from investors 242 times before someone said "yes." And Nelson Mandela. Twenty-seven years in prison. He walked out without bitterness, without hatred, and led a nation toward healing.

Elon Musk once said, "If something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor." That line sticks with me, it's about grit, not guarantees.

Here's a small tool I've been using: a resilience list. It's simple. Write down three times in your life when you overcame something tough. What kept you going? What did you learn? When doubt creeps in, revisit that list. It's a reminder of just how strong you already are.

Here's mine:
I want to bring an entirely new and experiential approach to undergrad business education in India and I've been going at it for 12 years now :-)
I wanted to learn computer programming when I was in my 7th grade, and I could not find any books or teachers but I didn't give up, and by grade 10 I stood 4th in the world in the International Computer Problem Solving Competition.
I wanted to be able to sit in the seat of silence for 40-45 minutes and it took six months to get there but I didn't give up.

Let me leave you with this: What part of your vision feels so worth it that you're willing to endure the setbacks, the doubts, and the days when nothing seems to work?

In fratitude,
adi