Lessons from the bamboo tree on patience

"The rewards of patience and perseverance are illustrated by George Dennison (1935), president of the University of Montana (1910-2010) in this excerpt from a commencement address in 1993. Do you know the story of the Chinese bamboo? After the bamboo is planted, only a tiny shoot is visible. The gardener must tend and nurture the bamboo for four years, while the shoot remains the size of your thumb. For those first four years all the growth takes place underground, unseen, in the plant’s root system. But the gardener perseveres. Knowing the potential of the bamboo, the gardener faithfully waters and fertilizes the almost invisible plant. Finally, in that fifth year, the gardener’s efforts are rewarded as the bamboo grows 80 feet."

source - copy pasted from Sandy

"...So what happened?   Did the bamboo tree after four years of inactivity, suddenly shoot up 90 feet in the fifth year? The answer is as clear as a bald head. The tree grew 90 feet in 5 years.  All those years, the tree’s development was taking place in the invisible realm, toiling and budding underground in a massive, fibrous root structure that would eventually become strong enough to support its exponential growth rate. If you had given up earlier, your whole labour would have come to nought. In life, there will be challenging times. You can work on your dreams for weeks, months and even years with no visible signs of progress and then, all of the sudden, things take off. People, who patiently toil towards their dreams and goals, building strong character while overcoming adversity and challenge, grow the strong internal structure to handle success when it eventually comes. Maintain your faith even when you can’t see your rewards in front of you.  Say to yourself, it just hasn’t happened yet!  The most important work is the work that no one can see. ..So keep watering your Chinese Bamboo Tree. Any time, you’re tempted to give up, remind yourself that your day is just around the corner."

Source

Next passage copy pasted from Matt Moris here

The Story of The Chinese Bamboo Tree

Like any plant, growth of the Chinese Bamboo Tree requires nurturing – water, fertile soil, sunshine. In its first year, we see no visible signs of activity. In the second year, again, no growth above the soil. The third, the fourth, still nothing. Our patience is tested and we begin to wonder if our efforts (caring, water, etc.) will ever be rewarded.
And finally in the fifth year – behold, a miracle! We experience growth. And what growth it is! The Chinese Bamboo Tree grows 80 feet in just six weeks!
But let’s be serious, does the Chinese Bamboo Tree really grow 80 feet in six weeks? Did the Chinese Bamboo Tree lie dormant for four years only to grow exponentially in the fifth? Or, was the little tree growing underground, developing a root system strong enough to support its potential for outward growth in the fifth year and beyond? The answer is, of course, obvious. Had the tree not developed a strong unseen foundation it could not have sustained its life as it grew. The same principle is true for people. People, who patiently toil towards worthwhile dreams and goals, building strong character while overcoming adversity and challenge, grow the strong internal foundation to handle success, while get-rich- quickers and lottery winners usually are unable to sustain unearned sudden wealth.
Had the Chinese Bamboo Tree farmer dug up his little seed every year to see if it was growing, he would have stunted the Chinese Bamboo tree’s growth as surely as a caterpillar is doomed to a life on the ground if it is freed from its struggle inside a cocoon prematurely. The struggle in the cocoon is what gives the future butterfly the wing power to fly, just as tension against muscles as we exercise strengthen our muscles, while muscles left alone will soon atrophy.