practice

How to Think Like a Bamboo Farmer

How to Think Like a Bamboo Farmer

Most people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a decade.

Bamboo farmers understand this better than anyone.

When bamboo is planted, nothing visible happens for years. The farmer waters the soil, pulls weeds, and tends the field with no outward sign of progress. No shoots. No proof. Just steady, patient work.

Ignore Your Critics

Ignore Your Critics

Many years ago I wrote a poem about critics and one of the stanzas went something like this:

“Critics critics there are many, but you will never see statues of any.”

People who have great success are just like you--seemingly ordinary people--but they have developed a strong and unwavering conviction and expectation that they will achieve their visions.