If your progress feels slow, read this


Hey Friend 👋

Did you know that in the early years of a bamboo plant, there is very little to see above ground?

From the surface, it can look like nothing is happening. But the real work is happening underneath.

So when growth finally appears, it looks dramatic. People call it sudden.

From the inside, it never feels sudden. It feels like the moment the ground finally gives way because it has been prepared to.

Do you recognise that feeling?

⭐️ Insight

Yesterday, one of my students said to me, “You make it look so easy.”

I smiled, because I know what they could not see.

When I look back at my own journey, from being the shyest student in the room to teaching doctors how to communicate with confidence, there was nothing overnight about it.

There were long stretches where progress was invisible.

Showing up again and again. Practising in private. Sitting with the discomfort of not being good yet.

From the outside, it might have looked like nothing was happening. From the inside, foundations were being laid.

That is the difference between height and depth.

If your progress feels slow right now, it may not be a problem to fix. It may be unseen preparation.

And if growth comes quickly one day, the real question will not be, “Did this happen fast?”

It will be, “Will it hold when life applies pressure?”

Depth first. Height follows and only lasts when the roots are strong enough.

😂 Fun fact

Once established, bamboo can grow close to 90cm in a single day under the right conditions.

Fulfilled Friday

I'm on a mission to help doctors lead fulfilling lives. Join over 800 readers who receive a dose of happiness and success insight every Friday directly to their inbox

Read more from Fulfilled Friday

Hey Reader, Back at med school, I remember sitting in a tutorial, knowing the answeR and still not saying anything. I was afraid to speak up, “What if I'm wrong.” As I sat there thinking, someone else answered“That’s exactly what I was going to say.” But I remember the feeling on the way home.That quiet frustration at myself. For a long time, I thought confidence meant being certain. But that wasn’t my reality. My reality looked more like:Rehearsing sentences in my head before...

Hey Reader, Some weeks try to overwhelm you. It’s never just one thing.It’s everything at once. A loved one gets sick.An unexpected complaint lands out of nowhere.Your time, energy and focus all stretched thin at the same time. Underneath it all, a quiet voice whispers, “I can’t keep up.” If that’s where you are right now, pause for a minute: A captain doesn’t get to choose the direction of the wind or the size of the waves. But he does steer the ship. And that matters more than it seems. You...

Hey Reader, I remember lying awake at night in sixth form. Staring at the ceiling. Running the same question through my head again and again: "What if I’m not good enough?" My mind rehearsed every possible failure. What if I don’t get into med school?What if I can’t find a job afterwards? Fear has a strange habit. It pretends to be preparation. But most of the time, it’s just imagination working overtime. And for years I treated fear like something to escape. Something to outrun. Until I...