Ancient Wisdom in Turbulent Times
Questions
What if the turbulence you’re feeling is proof you’re flying, not falling? Can you sit with that a moment longer?
If your future self—5 years from now—was watching you today, would they be proud of your patience or embarrassed by your panic?
What are you pretending is a “sign to stop” when it’s really just a test to see if you’re serious?
If your current discomfort is the price of future freedom, are you paying it—or avoiding it?
If water can wear down a rock with nothing but time and movement… what could you accomplish if you stopped stopping?
"The stock market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient." — Warren Buffett
‘DING’ Please Buckle Your Seatbelts - Ancient Wisdom in Turbulent Times
On a recent business trip back from Scottsdale to visit my PLACE partners, the plane hit turbulence. Now I have not been of flying since I was a kid. My partner, Ben Kinney is such a sweet guy that when he found out about my flying insecurity, he seriously sent me a text meme of a plane crashing. Yep, that happened. When the turbulence hit, that all too familiar ‘Ding’ went off with the intercom voice, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the seatbelt sign has been turned on, for your safety please ensure you seatbelts are securely fastened. As I sat there nervously in the airborne bounce-house I began thinking about how uncomfortable turbulence is yet how much staying the course is the only way out. You can’t stay in the calm air any more than you remain in turbulence; ultimately you must keep moving forward. But here’s what seasoned pilots and frequent flyers know: turbulence feels dangerous, but it’s not. Planes are built for it. Pilots are trained for it. And most of the time, turbulence is just a bump in the road you can’t see—not a sign that the plane is off course.
No one enjoys it and it passes.
The plane keeps flying.
The destination doesn’t change.
And the safest choice in that moment? Stay buckled in and trust the process
It’s the same in business, investing, or chasing any meaningful goal.
The Oak and the Reeds
A strong and towering Oak stood beside a river, proud of its unyielding strength. Nearby, slender Reeds swayed with each passing breeze. The Oak scoffed, “You bend to every little wind. I stand tall and firm.” The Reeds replied gently, “Yes, we bend—but we do not break.” One day, a mighty storm came. The Oak resisted, fighting against the wind with all its strength. But the unrelenting force proved too much. The Oak cracked; its roots torn from the ground. Meanwhile, the Reeds bent low, letting the storm pass overhead. When calm returned, they rose again, untouched.
Moral: Flexibility in the face of pressure isn’t weakness. It’s survival.
In leadership, investing, and growth, fear tempts us to cling to control. To fight change. To resist. But strength without adaptability is fragile. Just like the Oak, we risk snapping under the weight of stress.The Reeds teach us this: in turbulent times, humility and flexibility carry us forward.
Lao Tzu, in the Tao Te Ching, offered another image of enduring strength—not of resistance, but of gentle, patient persistence:
“Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.”
— Tao Te Ching
Think about it: over time, water wears down even the hardest rock. Not through force, but through consistency. It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t resist. It simply continues—flowing, adapting, shaping everything in its path. Leadership, like water, is not about bulldozing through obstacles. It’s about showing up, flowing around resistance, and wearing down barriers with steady progress.
A business doesn’t flourish through one burst of effort, it grows drop by drop, call by call, day by day.
Financial success is not built in a bull market alone, it’s built by staying in the flow, even when the tide is low.
Endurance whether physical, emotional, or professional, isn’t dramatic. It’s deliberate. It’s daily.
Fear thrives in turbulence, but wisdom and success stories alike show us how to move through it. A market dip, a failed campaign, a slow quarter, they feel overwhelming in the moment. But when you zoom out, they’re just tiny ripples in the larger flow of progress. Every market crash has led to recovery. Every hardship has the potential to become a turning point. Like the plane, you can’t control the wind or the market, but you can control your effort, your mindset, and your consistency. The Reeds didn’t resist the storm, they moved with it. Water doesn’t fight the rock; it flows around it. Trusting the process doesn’t mean being passive. It means taking intentional, aligned action rather than reacting out of fear. Keep calling. Keep writing. Keep walking. Adjust your course without abandoning your mission. Water wears away rock because it never stops. Likewise, your small, repeated efforts—each outreach, each investment, each step—compound into outcomes greater than you can see in the moment. The effects are quiet... until one day, they’re undeniable.
Too many people quit in the storm.
They sell at the bottom of the market.
They abandon a business one client short of traction.
They stop showing up when the finish line is just over the next hill.
Imagine a plane hitting turbulence and turning back. It would never reach its destination. And neither will you if you let discomfort define your decisions.
Be Like the Water
Right now, maybe things feel uncertain. Maybe you’re tired, discouraged, or afraid. That’s not a sign to stop.
It’s a sign you’re in the process. Stay in the fight!
In the end, the storm will pass. The rock will give way. And those who kept going, who bent but didn’t break, who flowed instead of forcing, will find themselves standing at the summit.
In the end, the journey may be bumpy, but the destination is always worth it.
I BELIEVE IN YOU
Coach Dru
