Success is inevitable, if you put in the groundwork
Written on: 31st Aug 2025
Success is inevitable if you put in the groundwork. But there’s one condition. You need to put in relentless efforts for a longer period until you start seeing results.
Let me show you what I mean.
You know I started this YouTube channel in January 2024. But here’s what happened behind the scenes.
For over 1.5 years, I’ve been creating content consistently. Every single week, one YouTube video and 4-5 short-form content pieces. And then three months ago, I started these newsletters too.
On average, I create 150 content pieces per year. After posting approximately 250-300 content pieces, I was about to give up.
I couldn’t see any results. I burnt a lot of cash on the team from my own pocket.
But I always believed in myself. I didn’t want to chicken out this time because since I started my business, I had tried 2-3 different ventures. They failed because I stopped right before seeing the results.
I was too furious. I wasn’t patient enough to wait and see the results.
The Two-Year Commitment
From all my learnings, I decided no matter what happens, I will continue to build this brand for at least two years. That’s what I’m doing.
But recently, this past week, I suddenly started seeing the results. All those compounding effects just started happening.
Trust me, compounding isn’t just with money or interest or loans. It works in real life too.
Initially, when I started the channel, I wasn’t comfortable speaking in public or talking to people. I wasn’t confident about myself.
After making 200+ videos, putting myself out there, dealing with negative setbacks, negative feedback, all the comments as well as the positive ones (I personally strive for these) my personality developed insanely. Compounded with every single video.
My network grew phenomenally. Big creators, big agencies, even LinkedIn big names are sliding into my DMs.
I can drop them a message and get replies because they see I’ve been putting in the work. People are looking up to me.
The numbers are going up. In the past month, I gained 7.5k followers on Instagram. When I look back to August 30th one year ago, I was celebrating 1k subscribers on YouTube. One year later, today, I’m at 6.5k on YouTube and 7.5k on Instagram.
Plus roughly 3,000 people on this newsletter and 3,000 on LinkedIn. Never would I have thought this would happen.
That’s The Power of Compounding
The growth was very slow initially. It took six months to gain 1,000 people. Now it only takes 10-15 days to get roughly 1,000 people on the channel.
That’s the power of compounding.
Even in my profession, I see compounding everywhere. Huge brands like Niyo - the forex card I used for my Master’s, reached out in my DMs asking if I’d love to collaborate or be sponsored.
This is insane. Huge brands, big names are coming to me. Even local Irish brands I’m in talks with.
Initially, when I was thinking about sponsorships and collaborations, it was pretty sparse. No one was emailing. Even if anyone emailed, they were offering peanuts.
Now that I’ve built this huge audience and the brand is growing at an insane rate, everyone wants to ride the wave with me.
But that’s when I can choose Who Gets the Pie
One lesson: Everyone wants to ride when you’re growing. Everyone wants a share of the pie.
That’s when you have to be cautious about whom you hand over that pie to. These are crucial periods where it will either help you ride the wave or drown you.
I only promote products I genuinely admire or have personally used. That’s the authenticity I have. That’s what brands see in me, and that’s why they reach out.
The Flow State
I’m so happy and grateful for all the brands reaching out, all the numbers going up. I haven’t been this happy in ages.
This week, I was working 9 to 9 (12-13 hours). Didn’t go to gym, barely went once. Didn’t cook meals, barely cooked once for the entire week.
I even accidentally fasted on Thursday just had one meal at night (that too was grateful a friend invited me over for dinner). I was that busy and didn’t even realize it.
I wasn’t mentally exhausted at all. I think that’s what flow is. That’s what I was looking for.
This is what work means to me. I just realized I’m a data analyst but also a marketer who can leverage data and analyze it to unlock the full potential of things.
The Dubai Airport Story
September is the month students usually move to their destination countries for Masters - Ireland, US, Canada, UK. A lot of students will be flying out.
If you’re one of them reading this, I want to share something personal.
When I took my flight in 2022, I came from a humble background. Not fancy backing or investments.
Because of visa delays, I had to book a last-minute flight. Only had one week. The flight was ₹65,000 and I booked Emirates with a layover. The layover was approximately 24 hours at Dubai Airport. I spent an entire day watching aeroplanes come and go.
I know what the actual size of an Airbus is. How long it takes to join the runway. How long a Boeing takes. I know every activity that goes on at Dubai Airport in a single day.
I know every shop, every luxury brand, their location. I explored everything. What else would I do for 24 fucking hours?
When I was at Dubai Airport, I was wearing basic clothes. Normal hoodie costing ₹300, normal tracksuit costing ₹500, normal t-shirt around ₹150.
Then when I went to luxury brand shops, there was a Tissot PRX watch, Michael Kors showroom where bags were insanely priced ₹1 lakh, ₹2 lakh, roughly €1,000, €2,000, €500.
The price of one bag was literally equivalent to my one-way ticket toward my dream. Imagine someone privileged enough to have that bag. They could literally fund their entire journey by just selling one accessory.
It got me thinking what would I have to do to be in a position where I could afford this bag without breaking a sweat?
I decided that one day it would be possible.
And, that day was this Saturday. I went to Kildare, a shopping center for luxury goods.
I was standing inside this Michael Kors showroom looking at all the price labels. I realized I was able to afford them.
I was on a budget so I consciously didn’t make these choices. But the fact that I could have easily bought the bag without breaking a sweat is insane.
Without thinking twice that is just insane.
Imagine the guy at the airport three years ago and now. If I could do it, you can do it too.
The Self-Image Revelation
This brings me to the book I’m reading - “Psycho-Cybernetics.” I read the first two chapters. They were insane. Took me 4hrs (my entire train ride back and forth)
Oh, btw I was on a 1:1 with Product Manager at Flodesk
The platform I use for writing these letters, they wanna ride the wave too ;)
First learning: Everything is about self-image.
There are two people with scars. One is a military officer who got his scar in battle. Instantly, his confidence goes up because that scar is a symbol of his hard work.
On the other hand, if a data analyst gets a scar, his confidence would be low. He’d feel bad about it.
If you fix the scar, the confidence comes back. But for the military person, the scar actually helps him be more confident.
It’s all about self-image afterall.
It doesn’t have to be grand. You don’t need to achieve massive things to change your self-image. It’s as simple as learning to introduce yourself in a new language. Even those small things rewire your brain.
That you are capable of bigger things.
Second lesson: The Answer Already Exists
Anything under the sun is already done. There’s already a solution for every problem.
But first let’s understand the two types of goals. Step-by-step goals where you know exactly what to do. Like passing a test - study these chapters, prepare these questions.
Then there are scannable goals. Like picking up a pen in daylight versus picking it up in a dark room.
In daylight, the goal is set. You know the steps. In darkness, you have to scan, feel around, then pick it up once you find it.
The Missile Analogy
The book gives this analogy: A missile has a sensory tracker that follows the enemy plane. If it goes too far right, it gets negative feedback and course-corrects left.
If it goes too far left, negative feedback again, course-correct right. Eventually, it gets positive feedback that it’s on track and hits the target.
Same with a child learning to lift a pen. Multiple negative feedbacks teach the correct action until success becomes natural.
Failure Is Just Feedback
We’re so afraid of failures. But failures aren’t failures they are just negative feedback. Isn’t it?
Let’s say I want to become a millionaire. There are 100 different ways. I choose one, start implementing. I fail - negative feedback that this isn’t working.
Course correct. Try another thing. Maybe see some success, then fail later. Negative feedback again.
Come back, course correct, try again. Course correct, try again.
Treat it as negative and positive feedback. That’s when you achieve the goal.
The reason we can lift a pen so easily is because we have been through multiple iterations and negative feedbacks. Now we know the process automatically.
Same thing to become a millionaire. Once you become one, you’ve gone through so many positive and negative feedbacks that you know what not to do and what to do.
The headline from the book is beautiful: “The answer exists now.”
When we set out to find a new idea or answer to a problem, we must assume the answer already exists somewhere. Our job is to find it.
Whatever the problem, assume the answer exists. Take action, take negative feedback, course correct, and keep doing it until you find the answer.
Once a scientist attacks a problem knowing it has an answer, his entire attitude changes. He’s already 50% on his way to that answer.
The Creative Mechanism
Whether in sales, managing a business, writing a script, or improving human relations, you begin with a goal in mind. An end to be achieved. A “target” that will be “recognized” when achieved.
The unhappy, failure-type personality cannot develop a new self-image by pure willpower. There must be some ground, some justification, some reason for deciding the old picture is wrong and the new picture is appropriate.
You cannot merely imagine a new self-image unless you feel it’s based on truth. Our brain needs small proof that we’re capable. Remember, above I said this can be as small as learning to introduce yourself in a foreign language or learning how to tie a perfect knot.
Experience shows that when a person changes their self-image, they have the feeling they see or realize the truth about themselves.
Back to the Airport
When I was standing at Dubai Airport, I didn’t know how I’d get to a position where I could buy those luxury items. But I knew for a fact that I would.
Because the solution already exists. I just had to work toward it.
By moving abroad, getting jobs, getting internships, course-correcting applications all of it.
Skill learning is accomplished by trial and error, mentally correcting aim after an error until successful performance is achieved. After that, further learning happens by forgetting past errors and remembering successful responses so they can be imitated.
You must learn to trust your creative mechanism to do its work. Don’t jam it by becoming too concerned or anxious about whether it will work. You must “let” it work rather than “make” it work.
This trust is necessary because your creative mechanism operates below consciousness. You cannot know what’s happening beneath the surface.
You have no guarantees in advance. It comes into operation as you act and place demands on it through your actions. You must not wait to act until you have proof. You must act as if it’s there, and it will come through.
Do the thing and you will have the power. Like for me creating content for the past 1.7 years.
What This Means for You
If you have a goal, figure out what type it is. Step-by-step or scannable. Whatever it is, know that the solution already exists.
Don’t worry about how. Figure out exactly what you want first. Then try different approaches, handle multiple negative feedbacks, and you’ll land on the answer.
Have negative feedback, then positive feedback. Double down on the positive and move forward.
The journey from that scared kid at Dubai Airport to someone who can afford luxury without thinking twice - it happened through this exact process.
Trial, error, course correction, repeat.
Success became inevitable because I refused to stop before seeing the results.
Your turn.