Admiral James Bond Stockdale was the highest-ranking U.S. officer in the notorious Hanoi POW camp from 1965 to 1973 during Vietnam War.
He survived 8 years of confinement without the rights of a prisoner of war and was tortured over 20 times.

Being asked how he could handle the situation when the future appeared so grim, he said, "I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."

However, the optimists were the ones who suffered the most in the POW camp, according to him. They would simply believe "I will be out by Christmas," and when Christmas would come and go, they would think "I will be out by Easter." Then they would be continuously disappointed, eventually lose hope and perish.

"You must never confuse faith thet you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be," said he.

Leasson of stockdale Paradox
- Stay firm in the belief that.
- Confront the brutal facts we are facing and think over to overcome current adversities.