The Grind vs The Dream
Shaurya Bahl lives in the tension between two realities: the daily grind of being a 15-year-old student in Dubai, and the dream of becoming a commercial pilot and successful builder. Both demand everything. Neither can be skipped.
The Grind
The grind is the day-to-day. It's unglamorous, repetitive, and necessary:
- School -- Showing up every morning. Sitting through subjects that feel slow. Taking exams in Chemistry and Biology that have nothing to do with what he actually wants to do. The grind of Math and Physics isn't optional because the pilot dream requires them.
- Homework and tests -- Bio tests, math tests, business tests, computer science tests. The juggling act of school assessments is constant.
- After-school coding -- 2-3 hours daily, every day. Not a burst of inspiration, but disciplined work. Debugging LockIn features, fixing Simplifly integrations, building Raly infrastructure. The glamorous parts of building (launching, getting users, pitching) are 5% of the work. The other 95% is this.
The Dream
The dream is layered:
Layer 1: Pilot Fly commercially for Emirates. Graduate from the Emirates Flight Training Academy. This is the north star that hasn't moved since age 6.
Layer 2: Builder Build products that solve real problems. Have a portfolio of ventures that generate revenue and impact. Be known as someone who ships.
Layer 3: Entrepreneur Financial independence through building. Not dependent on a salary. Multiple revenue streams funding the life he wants.
The dream is clear. The path to it is messy.
Where They Collide
The collision happens daily:
- A co/Build demo is on Friday, but there's a Physics exam on Monday. Both matter.
- A potential Simplifly B2B client wants a meeting, but Shaurya has school until 3pm.
- He wants to ship a new LockIn feature, but he hasn't finished his Math revision.
- A Sharjah festival appearance is this weekend, but he has pending school assignments.
There's no clean separation between grind and dream. They overlap, compete for time, and force constant prioritization.
How He Manages It
Building Always Wins Attention
In Shaurya's own admission, building almost always wins. If he has to choose between an extra hour of revision and an extra hour of coding, coding wins. This works because his grades in core subjects stay functional -- not stellar, but sufficient for the pilot path.
School Is a Tool
He doesn't fight the system. He extracts what he needs -- Math, Physics, the discipline of showing up -- and treats the rest as overhead.
The After-School Block
The 2-3 hours after school are sacred. This is when real building happens. Everything else fits around this block.
Weekends Are for Projects
co/Build events, product demos, client meetings, deep coding sessions -- weekends are when the dream gets the most attention.
The Point
The grind and the dream aren't opposites. The grind is the dream -- just the boring parts of it. Getting the Physics grade is part of becoming a pilot. Debugging at midnight is part of being a builder. The unsexy daily work is what makes the exciting outcomes possible.
"Start young. Always have a goal in life. Enjoy it and the money will come."
The trick is enjoying the grind, not just the dream. Shaurya's still working on that.
See also: School & Education | The Pilot Dream | Building Philosophy | Why School Is Broken