Dear Silas,

I spent my morning watching some guys pull up the stone pathway on my way to the office. The stones had been looking rough for ages. They all pointed fingers at many reasons. But then they lifted that heavy slate, and we saw what was going on down in the dark…

The men dug up the path, but the cause was never what the thought. They discovered roots. Thick, violent roots. The tree next to it, planted ten years ago and hardly visible to the eyes for half a decade, had been slowly spreading out sideways. It spent a decade doing nothing we could see.

Then it shattered the solid stone.

The market’s crazy today. You can see the panic on the faces of people rushing through financial markets, glued to their phones, scared they’ll miss out on the latest, unseen gold rush. They are trying to build massive empires overnight. They want the harvest before they have even studied the soil.

I sat across from a young founder yesterday. He was sweating through his shirt, complaining and wondering why he was not yet where he should be. He was afraid of missing out. His intention was to conquer the African market within the first six months. He is going to 2 years+ now…

I just felt tired looking at him.

We have completely lost our reverence for the dark.

In your life, in your work, and in your business, there will be long stretches where no one applauds. You will feel stagnant. You’ll be watching others succeed while you’re still toiling away. There will be a temptation to abandon your depth to chase their speed.

Don’t.

Let them have the surface. There is a lot of noise at the surface because it’s weak. The overnight empires always collapse the moment culture shifts. Because they lack deep roots to hold them steady.

Your job is not to sprout so fast as to impress the crowd. Your mission is to build a firm foundation that nothing can shake.

Stop checking your watch. Instead, dig deeper. Keep building.

He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. — Jeremiah 17:8

Warmly,
Oluboba Ayodeji