Recalibrate

It’s okay to lose track. To wander off a bit. Especially when the process starts to feel like a drag- it’s still okay.

Even Jobs- and every other “legend” you can think of- lost their dominion state for a brief moment. Of course, it only seems brief in hindsight. For the one living through it, it feels like life has stalled. Like time is dragging its feet while everything meaningful you’ve built starts to fade, and all you’re left with is a string of sucker punches. Life happens.

Stable things move linearly. A linear career means you show up 9 to 5, check boxes, go home, and crash. Simple. Predictable. But when you’re building the future? That path is anything but linear. You’re scattered, because you’re literally trying to invent things out of thin air.

Now how easy is that- to weave things out of nothing?

When it clicks, it moves fast. You feel every moment of it, but from the outside, it looks like overnight success. One day it’s four cracked engineers fighting their kanbans, duct-taping code at 2 AM- the next, they’re doing $50M in revenue and making headlines. For the world, it happened in a flash. For them? It felt like last week they were figuring out basic auth flows.

But flip the table- when you’re on the other side- it’s dark. Weeks feel like years. Nothing moves. You’re trying everything- and it all falls flat. Hiring fails. Customers ghost. Investors vanish. You’re stuck in the mud.

But you know what? That’s part of the process.

This is the cooking phase. You don’t serve while the porridge is still boiling, right?

Action produces information. Information sharpens execution.

So reiterate. Recalibrate. Step back when needed. Breathe. Pat yourself on the back. Tell yourself- this is your time to endure. Your time will come. Your era will rise. You’ll earn your seat with the legends. But you can’t stop moving. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But move.

Run around like you got nothing to lose if you must. Don’t waste time wondering what people will think- do it anyway. All it takes is one call, one yes, one spark. The whole thing flips. The gloom vanishes. The sun shows up and starts warming your way.

When it’s rough, just look around. Any object in your room- a lamp, a chair, a mug- none of it came from a single man or a single try. These are the compounding efforts of generations. Human agency has always surged forward. It’s in your DNA too.

Do it a hundred times. On the 101st, show up with the strength of all those hundred tries behind you. Let that energy snowball. Let it fuel your authority. The field is yours to win- not from entitlement, but from earned privilege. Because you moved. You started with a pebble. And you can build a damn fort from it.

I remember sitting in Sequoia India’s HQ a few years back at the Marriott in Delhi, during a meeting in their glassy boardroom. Rajan Anandan, a partner at now Peak XV, looked at me as I was pacing through our metrics and fundraising plan for my last startup. He said, “Gokul, don’t waste time. Don’t be in a hurry.”

It felt like a paradox, a contradiction at first. Aren’t those the same thing? But over time, it sunk in.

Speed without clarity is chaos. Stillness without intention is just stagnation.

You have to move—but you have to know why. You have to burn with urgency—but carry stillness inside. That balance is the rarest thing. And that conversation stuck with me.

As Shree Lord Krishna said- your job is not to crave the fruits, but to do the work.

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचनमा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते संगोस्त्वकर्मणि

You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the results, and never be attached to inaction.

If you haven’t achieved anything close to your former glory- it’s alright. That usually means you’re leveling up. And yeah, it’s hard. Brutally hard. Like trying to deadlift 120kg when you’ve only ever done 100.

Your back’s screaming. The weight won’t budge. You wake up sore, defeated, can’t even do a pull-up. But then, a few cycles later, you’re adding plates. 150kg moves like butter. Time was never the point- progress was.

It’s okay to have embarrassing chapters. It’s okay to wander. To be human.

Just know- as long as you’re walking the journey, you’re still on the path. Step back when needed. Recalibrate. And then march forward towards your destiny like a godsent stud.

-G Chola