• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

26 Meta employees accuse Mark Zuckerberg of using AI to target 8,000 layoffs against workers on medical, parental or family leave

2

MacKenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates, and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are rewriting the rules of billionaire giving—one quietly, one strategically, one very publicly

3

After donating $48 billion to the Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett is quietly ending one of the biggest philanthropic relationships in history

1

26 Meta employees accuse Mark Zuckerberg of using AI to target 8,000 layoffs against workers on medical, parental or family leave

2

MacKenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates, and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are rewriting the rules of billionaire giving—one quietly, one strategically, one very publicly

3

After donating $48 billion to the Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett is quietly ending one of the biggest philanthropic relationships in history
Commentary

Here’s What You Should Do When You Feel Stuck at Work

By
Damian Bradfield
Damian Bradfield
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Damian Bradfield
Damian Bradfield
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 2, 2017, 4:54 PM ET
Photograph by Polina Gladkova
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question, “How do you stay optimistic when your company is struggling?” is written by Damian Bradfield, president of WeTransfer.

When I joined WeTransfer in 2010, our company was just five people crowded in a small room on the second floor of a house in Amsterdam. Our early years weren’t easy—we decided not to take funding while we were still shaping our business—so we were forced to absorb initial costs ourselves. We often weren’t able to pay salaries, and we all worked multiple jobs and relied on lucky breaks and innumerable sleepless nights to make ends meet.

But what got us through that difficult start was our belief in our company. We knew that the market was fed with up old-school file transfer services—with USBs, hard drives, the headaches of file-transfer protocol—and we knew that our product could offer trusted, secure, and simple transfers that allowed users to focus on creating, rather than worry about delivery. Fast-forward seven years, and our company is now 50 people instead of five, and we’ve added 40 million unique users per month.

Challenges are inevitable, but struggle isn’t. Conviction in the strength of your product goes a long way to quieting the unconstructive anxieties and internal debates that paralyze decision-making and hurt morale.

As WeTransfer has matured, we’ve faced new challenges that have tested us, like expanding to new markets, upgrading our web application framework, finding the right type of advertising model, and deciding when and where to get financing. These decisions have all involved big debates, and, sometimes, we took steps that distracted our focus and cost us time. But we’ve been able to stay optimistic—and therefore, to absorb these challenges without skipping too many beats—because we were confident in the quality of and demand for WeTransfer.

See also: Here’s Why Entrepreneurs Have So Many Mental Breakdowns

I learned another trick for staying optimistic during my time in the Netherlands. There’s a Dutch word called “gezellig,” which means coziness and relaxation—the feeling you get when you slow down and take the time to be with friends and family. In America—especially in the startup scene—we’re probably not moving toward the 30-hour workweek like the Dutch anytime soon, but we can adopt an attitude that tries to bring more gezellig into our lives.

My friends from the Netherlands understand that giving yourself time and space to think—whether that means taking a long stroll after lunch, going on vacation twice a year, or simply taking a coffee break every afternoon—helps us put life in perspective, think through our doubts and anxieties, and actually be more productive. Grinding ourselves down can be counterproductive.

There’s a corollary to the “gezellig principle”: Staying afloat when your company—or your career—is struggling does not have to be a solo task. One of the keys to success of WeTransfer is that we are ambiverts, people who can switch between being extroverted and introverted. My team is comfortable talking and listening; we know that if conflicts arise within our organization, that we’re all capable of reaching out for help and providing an ear for our team members when they need it. And this is crucial for the success of our company: Struggling alone is a quick path to failure.

 

So, seek advice when you feel stuck. Call a friend or mentor when you want to mull over an idea. Find a confidante to express worries to so they don’t eat you from within. And, for that to work, surround yourself with good people, who have genuine motivations and who support what you’re doing.

In moments of struggle, I remember a favorite line from Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: “My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice.”

About the Authors
By Damian Bradfield
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Bethany Cianciolo
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

sb
Commentarynational debt
The national debt is over 100% of GDP and most of Congress is ignoring wishes to rein it in. It’s time to amend the Constitution
By Steve H. Hanke and David M. WalkerJuly 15, 2026
12 hours ago
Is your AI really working? Why productivity isn’t the same as progress
Future of WorkBrainstorm Tech
Is your AI really working? Why productivity isn’t the same as progress
By Jamie GarverickJuly 15, 2026
14 hours ago
r
CommentaryFDA
Trust in the FDA is collapsing. It’s time to get really transparent about our food and our drugs
By Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Megan Ranney, Sten Vermund, Patricia Greenstein and Steven TianJuly 14, 2026
1 day ago
mm
Commentaryregulation
Exclusive: Delaware proposes testing the AIC, a new legal entity for agents in a regulatory sandbox
By John Nay and Charuni Patibanda-SanchezJuly 14, 2026
1 day ago
jobs
CommentaryLabor
Black women’s unemployment rate fell. That’s not the good news you think it is
By Katica RoyJuly 14, 2026
2 days ago
b
CommentaryWorld Cup
Columbia Business School professors: What the Balogun red card can teach us about AI and judgment
By Oded Netzer, Christopher Frank and Paul MagnoneJuly 13, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

26 Meta employees accuse Mark Zuckerberg of using AI to target 8,000 layoffs against workers on medical, parental or family leave
Law
26 Meta employees accuse Mark Zuckerberg of using AI to target 8,000 layoffs against workers on medical, parental or family leave
By Barbara Ortutay, Alexandra Olson and The Associated PressJuly 15, 2026
14 hours ago
MacKenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates, and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are rewriting the rules of billionaire giving—one quietly, one strategically, one very publicly
Newsletters
MacKenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates, and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are rewriting the rules of billionaire giving—one quietly, one strategically, one very publicly
By Sydney LakeJuly 14, 2026
1 day ago
After donating $48 billion to the Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett is quietly ending one of the biggest philanthropic relationships in history
North America
After donating $48 billion to the Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett is quietly ending one of the biggest philanthropic relationships in history
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 14, 2026
1 day ago
Jamie Dimon understands why people are anti-rich: 'We have, in fact, left the lower-income folks behind' and 'that's kind of annoying'
Economy
Jamie Dimon understands why people are anti-rich: 'We have, in fact, left the lower-income folks behind' and 'that's kind of annoying'
By Eleanor PringleJuly 15, 2026
16 hours ago
He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he's betting $32 million that robots can fix construction's labor crisis
Innovation
He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he's betting $32 million that robots can fix construction's labor crisis
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 15, 2026
15 hours ago
FedEx CEO says we are in the middle of the biggest supply chain shift he’s seen in 35 years: ‘We are the referendum’
C-Suite
FedEx CEO says we are in the middle of the biggest supply chain shift he’s seen in 35 years: ‘We are the referendum’
By Fortune EditorsJuly 15, 2026
11 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.