Zero expectations

As an entrepreneur, I've noticed something interesting: good things often happen when I least expect them.

There have been so many times when I was certain a deal would close, or that an investor was ready to sign the check because they loved what I was doing.

But, many times, these deals fall through.

Often, I don’t even know why things didn’t work out. Yet, out of the blue, something unexpected comes through.

For example, one of my earliest customers, who we stopped working with a few years ago, suddenly reached out. They emailed me saying they would love to work with me and the Xena team again.

When they initially left, I thought it was because they didn’t like what we offered, or maybe they didn’t like me or my team. I was surprised when they came back, and it turns out the reason they left was that they simply couldn’t afford us at the time.

This experience showed me that we often try to justify events, making sense of them, when in reality, many business decisions are made for reasons we can’t foresee or understand. As an entrepreneur, this makes the job even harder.

Your livelihood and work depend on the decisions of others—customers, investors, employees. You’re expected to overcome failures, stay positive, and keep not just your team’s morale up, but your own as well. And sometimes, it gets tough.

I think this is why entrepreneurs are celebrated—because they go through all of this. Especially as a CEO, you’re constantly faced with difficult situations, and you’re expected to deal with them, give direction, and pull the company through while carrying your team and stakeholders with you.

The idea of expecting the unexpected is unnerving. It shows that so much of life is out of our control. That thought is scary because it makes you question why you work so hard and sacrifice so much. Is it just that, no matter how hard you work, your odds of success only slightly increase—from 0.0005% to maybe 0.005%? And if so, is working hard even worth it?

These are the kinds of questions that arise when you realize most things aren’t in your control.

But the one thing you can control is your ability to push yourself forward and keep your vision alive for another day.

That’s why I try to keep moving forward with very few expectations from anyone but myself.

There's a story in the Bhagavad Gita where Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that a true leader is like a rock, unaffected by ups or downs.

Whether good or bad things happen, the leader moves forward, unperturbed by the outcome. The focus is on the actions themselves, not the results. It’s a powerful idea, but difficult to practice because we are so driven by results—our emotions are often tied to external outcomes and what others say.

Sometimes, it just gets hard.

It becomes really difficult to keep going when faced with bad news after bad news. But as an entrepreneur, you have to pick yourself up and fight for another day.

This is something you learn quickly, and I’m sure it applies to other fields as well. It’s one of those things that makes you wise over time and helps you appreciate the smaller things in life.

In the end, I always expect the unexpected.

Akhil