Chinese Bamboo and You

“An overnight success is ten years in the making.” -Tom Clancy

Speaking of measuring progress, this excerpt from Sahil Bloom’s excellent Curiosity Chronicle newsletter…

The Chinese bamboo tree can grow to be nearly 100 feet tall—but it’s how it achieves that growth that makes it even more interesting.

After being planted in the ground, it requires daily watering and nurturing.

And then, nothing happens: Despite the effort, days, weeks, months, and even years go by with no signs of any growth.

Two years, three years, four years pass, with continued daily inputs and not so much as a break in the surface to show for it.

But suddenly, in the fifth year, everything changes:

The Chinese bamboo tree breaks through the surface, and in the span of just six weeks, grows up to 90-feet-tall.

The story of the Chinese bamboo tree’s growth offers a powerful lesson for life (from an unlikely source):

Your growth can be hard to see. It occurs silently, under the surface. You make the daily investments in yourself, but are completely unaware of their impact.

Growth often happens slowly, and then all at once.

The challenge is that if you don’t recognize your own growth in its most subtle, hidden forms, you may become discouraged on the journey, lose your motivation, and stop marching forward.

But rest assured, the growth is happening—you just need to look in the right places to find it.

Again, when you set out to achieve anything, it’s important to have metrics to consistently measure your progress. That way, even if no one else sees the bamboo, you won’t be discouraged. Because you know it’s there all along, growing, getting stronger.

And when it finally does emerge, that bamboo and you will soar to incredible heights.

Just.

Keep.

Going (and growing).