From Minus Infinity to Plus Infinity

Nirmal Purja and the climb from self-doubt to a life beyond your imagined limits

Some days, zero would feel like progress. You are behind on assignments. An application gets rejected. Someone you trusted becomes distant. You look around university and feel as though everyone else has found their direction while you are still trying to find your footing. That is what minus infinity feels like: every setback seems to point towards the same conclusion - perhaps you are simply not enough.

But a feeling about your future is not a verdict on it. Nirmal Purja's journey reminds me why.

Minus infinity begins when you stop believing you can move.

Purja, known as Nimsdai, was born in Nepal. He joined the British Gurkhas in 2003 and later served in the Special Boat Service. Years of preparation came before the mountaineering achievements that made him internationally known. His circumstances were different from ours. The connection is in what his preparation reveals: capability is built over time, often before anyone notices it.

At university, we can forget that. A disappointing grade becomes "I am not intelligent." A rejected application becomes "Nobody will want me." One difficult semester becomes a prediction about an entire life. The result happened. The verdict is something you added to it.

A setback can show you where you need to improve. It cannot tell you everything you are capable of becoming.

Your climb begins when you stop treating today's struggle as a permanent address.

The way towards zero is through work you can repeat.

In 2019, Purja left his military career to pursue Project Possible: an attempt to climb all fourteen mountains above 8,000 meters within seven months. That goal demanded fundraising, planning and a capable team, alongside the climbing itself. The famous six-month-and-six-day account also needs context: Guinness later revised his all-fourteen record under stricter true-summit criteria, following his return to Manaslu and Dhaulagiri in 2021. Accuracy belongs in an inspiring story too.

For an undergraduate, the useful lesson is how an ambition becomes work. You may want a strong career, financial independence or a life that makes your family proud. Those goals need a place in your week. Choose one skill. Build one project. Find out why you keep losing marks in one subject. Ask someone to review your CV. Give the work a deadline you can actually meet.

Do it again next week. Progress may initially feel small. You finish an assignment on time. You understand a question that confused you yesterday. You send an application without spending another evening doubting yourself. That is the movement towards zero: you are beginning to trust yourself to follow through.

Confidence becomes more useful when you have evidence behind it. Give yourself something solid to believe.

Moving upwards requires judgement as well as courage.

Purja once explained:

"I know when to push and when to wait."

He spoke about respecting nature and accepting that the weather would remain beyond his control. That matters when you are trying to rebuild yourself. After a setback, it is tempting to prove your strength by doing everything at once. Study all night. Accept every responsibility. Never admit that you need help.

Eventually, your attention suffers and your work becomes harder to sustain. Learn to make better decisions. Attempt the difficult task but prepare for it. Ask for help before confusion becomes a month's worth of missing understanding. Rest when exhaustion is damaging the quality of your work. Your feelings do not have to disappear before you take action. You can feel uncertain and still complete the next useful task.

A stronger mindset gives you room to respond thoughtfully, even on a difficult day.

Your climb gets stronger with people beside you.

On January 16, 2021, Purja was among ten Nepali climbers who achieved the first winter ascent of K2. They gathered near the summit and completed the final approach together. Keep that image in mind when you feel pressured to handle university alone. Find friends who take their work seriously. Learn together. Share opportunities. Be someone others can rely on. Allow them to support you too.

Someone else's progress can become something you learn from. It does not have to become another reason to question your own worth.

There is space for more than one person to reach the summit.

Plus infinity is a future you stop closing too early.

To me, plus infinity means keeping your future open while steadily becoming more capable of meeting it. You cannot guarantee every outcome. You can improve your skills, make honest corrections and keep creating opportunities. You can discover abilities that your worst semester never gave you a chance to see.

That is why Purja's journey matters to an undergraduate. The mountains make the story spectacular. The preparation, decisions and teamwork make it useful. You may be at minus infinity today. You may be carrying disappointment that nobody in your lecture hall can see. Start with something you can do.

Open the assignment. Practice the skill. Ask the question. Send the application. Finish one piece of work you can be proud to put your name on. Then return tomorrow and build on it. The distance between where you are and where you want to be may feel enormous. You still have a next step available.

From minus infinity to plus infinity, the journey begins when you give yourself a future - and start doing the work to reach it.