The optimists

During the Vietnam War, Admiral James Stockdale was imprisoned and tortured for over seven years. He was eventually released in 1973. When asked who didn’t survive the war camps, he said:

The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.

Stockdale never lost hope he would get out. But he refused to attach a date to it.

Parenting can feel similar. Timelines keep slipping. We think tonight our baby will finally sleep through the night. We think by three they will finally stop all the meltdowns. We think by five they will finally listen to us…

When it doesn’t happen, we get frustrated. And the longer it takes, the more frustrated we get. Maybe next month, maybe next month. But no.

Running a business is the same. We think we will make money by Month 3. If not, Month 6. If not, Month 9. But it is often more than a year. The longer it takes, the more demoralized we become. Some entrepreneurs run out of hope before they run out of cash.