Know the TRUTH

One day a disciple found a glittering object on the road. He took the precious object, showed it to the master and asked him, “Is this a genuine diamond?”

The master was supposed be very knowledgeable about gems. He instructed the disciple, “Go to the library and read all about diamonds.” The disciple went, studied everything about diamonds and returned after having acquired sufficient knowledge about diamonds.

Produce QUALITY Goods

A company, dealing in dog food, was holding its annual sales convention. The sales personnel were brimming with ideas. The advertising director introduced a point-of-sale scheme that would “revolutionize the industry”. The sales director extolled the virtues of “the best sales force in the business.” Finally, it was time for the president to go to the podium and make his closing remarks.

“Over the past few days’’ he began, “We’ve heard from all our division heads their wonderful plans for the coming years. Now we draw to a close, I have only one question. If we have the best advertising, the best marketing strategy, the best sales force, how come we sell less dog food than anyone else in the business?”

How Do You Look At Failure?

Failure, they say, is the best teacher. We learn and have more confidence in what we know through trial and error, which onetime or another has resulted in failure. You don't have to accept your failure if what you really want to achieve is success.

For every successful achievement, there have been one or more failures. But those who we call successful are those who refuse to accept failure and believe success is the other side of failure.

The incandescent light was invented after 1000 failures. Assuming he had stopped after he tried 100 times without the desire result, what would have been the result of such effort?

The Power of Self-Confidence

Stumbling over stones, a man was trying to find his way through a dark cave with a light of hope from a lantern. Finally, he could trace a ray of sunlight entering the cave, which made him glitter with happiness.

But, as he drew closer, he was bewildered to see a gigantic rock standing before him like a mammoth. Courage was the only strength he possessed to devastate the barricade.

He pushed the rock with all his might, but it stood firmly denying to move. He tried again but it repudiated him from leaving the place. He felt as though being swallowed by a Blue Whale that was waiting to fulfill its enormous appetite.

The Special Dog!!

There was a hunter who came into the possession of a special bird dog. The dog was the only one of its kind, because it can walk on water.

One day he invited a friend for hunting with him so that he could show off his prized possession. After some time, they shot few ducks, which fell into the river. The man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. The dog ran on water to fetch the birds.

Work Smart than Working Hard

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops, a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well. At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.

The driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened -Big John got on again, said "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down. It happened next day, and the one after that, and so forth.

Person hindering YOUR growth is dead!

One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big advice on the door on which it was written: “Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral”.

In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself.

The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up.

When you think the other person is dumb, you are making a fool of yourself

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer. "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you." The barber puts a £5 coin in one hand and two £1 coins (1+1=2) in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?"

The boy takes the two £1 coins and leaves. "What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!"

SEASON

There was once a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

Control your MIND

There was a king who one day declared that he would reward 1 million coins to anybody who could feed his goat stomach full. If the person failed the attempt, he would be behead.

Lot of people were interested to win 1 million coins and started taking risk of feeding the goat stomach full. It started one by one. People took the goat and tried feeding it with grass the whole day and brought it back to the king in the evening . On the goat’s return the king would attempt to feed the goat with some grass and the goat would always be ready to eat more.

Story of APPRECIATION

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision. The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none". The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"

The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

House of MIRRORS

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When the dog arrived, it bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house.

It looked through the doorway with ears lifted high and tail wagging as fast as it could. To its great surprise, it was staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as it was wagging. It smiled, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As it left the House, it thought “This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

Old Man and the DURIAN Tree

An old man, aged 80 years old was planting a durian tree when he was observed by a neighbor. (A durian is a thorny fruit with a very pungent smell. It is very popular in South East Asia).

The neighbor asked the old man “Do you expect to eat durian from that tree?” The durian tree will take about 8 to 10 years to bear fruit.

Believe in your ACTIONS

As a drought continued for what seemed an eternity, a small community of farmers were in a quandary as to what to do. Rain was important to keep their crops healthy and sustain the town people's way of life. As the problem became more acute, a local pastor called a prayer meeting to ask for rain.

Many people arrived.

The MUSTARD Seed and Sorrow

Once there was a woman whose only son had died. In her sorrow she went to ask a wise holy man is there a way to bring her son back to life. “Fetch me a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow. We will use it to bring your son back to life.” He said to her instead of sending her away or try reasoning with her.

At once she quickly set off looking for that elusive mustard seed. The first place she came to is a huge mansion. Knocking on the door, she asked “I am looking for a house that has never known suffering. Is this the place? It is very important to me.”

Things are NOT always Black or White

In life, a lesson learned in my past that I will never forget completely. When I was in elementary school, I got into a major argument with a boy in my class. I have forgotten what the argument was about, but I have never forgotten the lesson learned that day.

I was convinced that "I" was right and "he" was wrong - and he was just as convinced that "I" was wrong and "he" was right. The teacher decided to teach us a very important lesson. She brought us up to the front of the class and placed him on one side of her desk and me on the other.

The SECRET Ingredient

Once there lived a father and a son in a small village. The father’s business is selling soup. The business flourished well, every day so many customers came from different places to drink the soup and the soup got recognition in and around that village.

One fine evening, the son and the father were busy preparing the soup; one of the customers approached the father, “How you are preparing this very nice soup? How is it possible for you to make the taste of the soup getting better and better every day? What is its specialty?”

THINK Simple, LIVE Simple

A millionaire who was bothered by severe eye pain consulted so many physicians and was getting his treatment done. He consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent many injections. But the ache persisted with great vigor.

At last a monk who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called by the millionaire. The monk understood his problem and said for sometime he should concentrate only on green colour and not to fall his eyes on any other colours.

<< Why Walk when you can FLY >>

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. They were peregrines falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.

Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

ProFound Impact of Encouraging Words !!!

As a child, Walter Scott was considered a dullard. His usual place was a dull corner in the school-room. He sat there with high pointed paper cap on his head.
The noted poet Robert Burns once visited Walter’s house. He noticed a picture on which a couplet was written. Burns found the couplet fascinating and asked who was the author. No one knew.

Keep SMILING Always :-)

A wise man once cracked a joke in a gathering . All laughed like crazy.
After a moment he cracked the same joke again and a little less people laughed this time.

He cracked the same joke again & again, When there was no laughter in the crowd, he smiled and said

Have You TOUCHED Your LIMITS Ever?

George Dantzig - the famous mathematician who's contributions to operations research and systems engineering have made him immortal. As a college student, George studied very hard and often late into the night. So late, that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for Prof. Neyman's class.
He quickly copied the two math's problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment. It took him several hours to work through the two problems, but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on Neyman's desk the next day.

HEALTH Competition is GOOD !!

An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Incidentally, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse named Buddy.

THANKS Giving .......

A young woman was sitting at her dining table, worried about taxes to be paid, house-work to be done and to top it all, her family was coming over for thanks giving the next day. She was not feeling very thankful at that time. As she turned her gaze sideways, she noticed her young daughter scribbling furiously into her notebook.

“My teacher asked us to write a paragraph on negative thanks giving for homework today.” said the daughter, “She asked us to write down things that we are thankful for, things that make us feel not so good in the beginning, but turn out to be good after all.”

Want To Be RICH? Look Within FIRST

An African farmer had heard tales about other farmers who had made millions of dollars by discovering diamond mines. These tales so excited the farmer that he could hardly wait to sell his farm and go prospecting for diamonds himself.

So he sold the farm and spent the rest of his life wandering the African continent, searching unsuccessfully for the gleaming gems that brought such high prices on the markets of the world. Finally, broke, worn out, and in a fit of despondency, he threw himself into a river and drowned.

PAINTING on the Wall

There was a king who was a great admirer of art. One day an artist came and said to the king, “Oh King! Give me a blank wall in your palace and let me paint a picture on it.”

The artist was given the job. Just then, another young man said, “Oh King! Please allow me to work on the opposite wall. I too am an artist.” The king said, “What would you like to make?” The man said, “My Lord, I shall make exactly what that man will make on the opposite wall. Moreover, I shall do so, without looking at his work. I would even request you to have a thick curtain put up between the two walls so that either of us cannot see the other.”

We'll SEE

Once upon a time, there was a farmer in the central region of China. He didn't have a lot of money and, instead of a tractor, he used an old horse to plow his field. One afternoon, while working in the field, the horse dropped dead. Everyone in the village said, "Oh, what a horrible thing to happen." The farmer said simply, "We'll see."

He was so at peace and so calm, that everyone in the village got together and, admiring his attitude, gave him a new horse as a gift. Everyone's reaction now was, "What a lucky man." And the farmer said, "We'll see."

Be Willing to LEARN throughOut the LIFE

One truck driver was doing his usual load delivery at a mental hospital, by parking his vehicle beside an open drain.

He discovered a flat tyre when he was about to return from the mental hospital. He jacked up the truck and removed the flat tyre to fix the spare tyre. When he was about to fix the spare tyre, he accidentally dropped all the 4 bolts in the open drain.

As he cannot fish the bolts in the open drain, he started to panic as to what should be done? Just then, one patient happened to walk past him and asked the driver as to why he was looking troubled.

The Baby GIRAFFE - Learn to Stand Up

Baby giraffes never go to school. But they learn a very important lesson rather early in life. A lesson that all of us would do well to remember. The birth of a baby giraffe is quite an earth- shaking event. The baby falls from its mother’s womb, some eight feet above the ground.

It shrivels up and lies still, too weak to move. The mother giraffe lovingly lowers her neck to smooch the baby giraffe. And then something incredible happens. She lifts her long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and tumbling down on the ground. As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks the baby again and again. Until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired, pushes its limbs and for the first time learns to stand on its feet.

ImPromptu CONCERT

A mother wished to encourage her small girl's interest in the piano and so took her a local concert featuring an excellent pianist. In the entrance foyer the mother met an old friend and the two stopped to talk.

The little girl was keen to see inside the hall and so wandered off, unnoticed by her mother. The girl's mother became concerned when she entered the hall and could see no sign of her daughter. Staff were notified and an announcement was made asking the audience to look out for the little lost girl.

With the concert due to start, the little girl had still not been found. In preparation for the pianist's entrance, the curtains drew aside, to reveal the little girl sitting at the great piano, focused in concentration, quietly picking out the notes of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.

The Horse's SUCCESS

One day a farmers horse was playing happily in the rain. While playing, it fell into the open well. It cried piteously for help for hours. The farmer doesn’t know what to do. The farmer felt, the animal is old and there is no, point in retrieving and the open well also needs to be covered. He invited all his neighbours to help in covering the well. Everybody began to shovel dirt into the well.

We get back in LIFE what we give to OTHERS

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court.

The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, "Your Honor, I am primitive. I don't have a proper measure, but I do have a scale."

Wise that we control and Master our Mind

A snake charmer moved from village to village to entertain folks with his acrobatic team of a monkey, a snake and a goat. Once, while wading across a river, he balanced the snake basket on his head, sat the monkey on his shoulder and guided the goat with his hand. The water level was low but there flowed a strong current.

The charmer cautiously took his steps, with an eye on all three of his team. Midway, where the force was fierce enough to drag away the goat, he tightened his grip on it. The other two were safe above. Or were they? The monkey, by nature, was mischievous. It was restless and couldn't resist playing a game. It slowly opened the snake basket. The snake within the darkness of the basket sprung up with its head high and tongue hissing... sss sss sss. The sound and fury, frightened the monkey and it fell into the water.

From a School Principal's Speech at a GRADUATION...

He said "Doctor wants his child to become a doctor...

Engineer wants his child to become engineer...

Businessman wants his ward to become CEO...

BUT a teacher also wants his child to become one of them!

Nobody wants to become a teacher BY CHOICE"... Very sad but that's the truth!

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Teacher Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)

Mouse Trap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?” the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: “There is a mousetrap in the house!

There is a mousetrap in the house!” The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

Follow Your HEART

Monty Roberts is a young man who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. Apart from his daily life he used to give some inspirational lectures to the people usually come to meet him. One day Monty was addressing assembly by saying, "I want to tell you a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of some day owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200pacre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4000 - square- foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch. He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher.

There is No Ctrl + Z (UNDO) in Life

Once there was a Software Engineer who participated in a Crorepati event. He have answered 14 Questions out of 15 with a cash prize of Rs. 25,00,000 . The game had a rule as either the participant can leave the game at any point before the 15th Question & if the 15th Question challenge is accepted his prize amount will depend only based on result of that question as it is a Jackpot question which is a Yes or No type. If the answer is correct he will get “1,00,00,000 Rupees” and if incase he answered wrongly he will get “0 Rupee“ .

Wait for the Brick

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, "What was that all about and who are you?

Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?"

Never Judge Anyone

The doctor was called one evening for an urgent surgery. He answered the call, changed his clothes, reached hospital in minutes & went directly to the surgery block. He found the boy's father waiting, in the hall for the doctor.

On seeing him, the dad yelled: "Why did U take all this time to come? Don't you know that my son's life is in danger? Don't you have any sense of responsibility?”

Peaceful Mind

Once there was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him. After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Facing adversity positively

There was man who used to live with his family and a dog. The dog had been with the family for quite a long time and had grown old. With age the family had slowly began to realize that the dog was becoming useless and they now required a new dog who could serve them better.

One day the man took his dog for a walk, the street was deserted and it was getting dark. Suddenly the dog fell into an old well and started howling for help. The man looked around him and found no help. Soon enough the man realized that the dog was not worth the trouble of saving. So instead of saving the he decided to bury the dog in the well and put him out of his misery.

The Window

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

Story of Hell or Heaven after death

There was a man who had a strong belief as there should be something after everyone’s death either Hell or Heaven, so he was good to himself and to his surroundings. When time came for him to say Goodbye to the world he was brought before the GOD. He was very curious to know where he will be send. He asked GOD “Is there really a Hell & Heaven, if so where I will be send?” .

On hearing it GOD gave a big smile and he gave him a Choice to choose, he showed two houses one on his right hand side & another on his left hand side and asked him to choose. On over curiosity he said he needs to look on both the houses & then only he will decide. He assumes those two houses as one to be hell & another to be heaven in his mind.

Jobless Man and his dedication

A Jobless man applied for the position of 'office boy' at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him then watched him cleaning the floor as a test.

'You are employed' he said. Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the application to fill in, as well as date when you may start.

The man replied 'But I don't have a computer, neither an email'

Quality Excellence

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor,

"Do you need two statues of the same idol?"
"No," said the sculptor without looking up,

"We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage.

500 Rupee Note : Lesson - 2

Prakash Iyer, MD, Kimberly-Clark Lever and Executive Coach shares two important management lessons he learnt from a 500-rupee note.

Several years later, it was another day, another time and another motivational guru.

As I watched him pull out a five hundred rupee note and hold it up for all to see, I thought I knew what he was going to do next.

But he just asked a simple question. "How much is this worth?"

500 Rupee Note : Lesson - 1

Prakash Iyer, MD, Kimberly-Clark Lever and Executive Coach shares two important management lessons he learnt from a 500-rupee note. Read on. 

It happened some years ago but I can recall the evening like it happened just last week. I was in an audience listening to a motivational guru.

The speaker whipped out his wallet and pulled out a five hundred-rupee note. Holding it up, he asked, "Who wants this five hundred rupee note?"

Don't We All

I was parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had just come from the car wash and was about to get out of work. Coming my way from across the parking lot was what society would consider a bum. From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money.

There are times when you feel generous but there are other times that you just don’t want to be bothered. This was one of those “don’t want to be bothered times.”

“I hope he doesn’t ask me for any money,” I thought. He didn’t.

He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop but he didn’t look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus. After a few minutes he spoke.

Cherish Your Uniqueness

Unique
Have you ever stopped to think what an awesome, exceptional, and remarkable human being you are?

Of all the people who ever lived on this earth, not one of them is just like you. No one who ever lived had the abilities, limits, talents, appearance, happiness, sorrows, opportunities, burdens, and possibilities that you have.

No one has exactly the same thoughts as you do. No one seeks exactly as you do. No one prays just as you do. No one loves all the same people that love you. Even the ones who laugh like you, don't sneeze like you. The ones who cry like you, don't have the same sorrow you do. The ones who smile like you, don't know the same joys that you do.

Believe in Struggle

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Pride has a Fall

Gorelal was a famous sculptor. His sculptures looked real ones. One day he saw a dream that after fifteen days, the demon of Death would come to take him.

Gorelal prepared four statues of himself and when on the 15th day he heard the Demon of Death coming, he took his place between the statues. The Demon could not recognize him and was astonished to see five Gorelals instead of one. He rushed back to the God of death and told the matter.

Sharpening Skills

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job with a timber merchant, and he got it. The salary was really good and so were the work conditions.

For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.

"Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!"

Bag of Nails

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Patience and Persistence

In an Indian temple, when the priest had gone for lunch, the Idol of the Lord and the Stepping Stone were conversing.

Stepping Stone: What a good fate you have. We both were the same lump of rock for millions of years. The sculptor carved an idol out of you and everyone is worshipping you. And look at me, I am a stepping stone and every one stands on me and stamps on. What kind of life is this?

Window of our Mind

Once upon a time, A young couple moved to a new home. The next morning, while they are eating their breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hang the wash outside.

Wife: The laundry is not very clean. She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps She needs better laundry shop.

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Club 99

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, "Why are you so happy?"

The man replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies."

The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."

Practice with Confidence

Meet Terry, a high-school freshman who wanted to tryout for the boy's basketball team. He was the last guy you would wanna pick on your team. He had no ball-handle, no speed, missed most of his shots, and could not jump for anything. When he tried out, the coach told him, "Forget about basketball, try chess". Now Terry was a very confident kid who had it in his mind he would be not only make the team but be better than everyone on the team. He looked at the list to see if he made the team. Not even close. He was upset, but he knew that he had three more years to make the team and that's when he trained. When the team had practice he would watch. After they practiced he would take shots. Mostly misses. He practiced dribbling. Kept losing the ball. Frustrated but not giving up he came up with a strategy.

Dream stealer

A person named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.

The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

Power of Positive Talk

A man was lost while driving through the countryside. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.

“Warwick can get you out of that ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field.

Natural Motivator

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.

Umbrellas and Noodles

There was once an old lady who cried all the time. Her elder daughter was married to an umbrella merchant while the younger daughter was the wife of a noodle vendor.

On sunny days, she worried, "Oh no! The weather is so nice and sunny. No one is going to buy any umbrellas. What will happen if the shop has to be closed?" These worries made her sad. She just could not help but cry.

Dream to Fly

Once upon a time, there was an ant who had a big dream. He wanted to fly! His little colony of ants told him,”Hey Tommy! That's impossible, an ant cannot fly!”

But Tommy replied firmly, “You can say whatever you want to. I want to fly!”

Shovel Dirt into the well

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for ...hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

Where to make an Effort ?

A Giant Ship Engine Failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another but none of them could figure but how to fix the Engine.

Lessons on Life

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter,
The second in the spring,

Control your attention to Control your mind

A disciple and his teacher were walking through the forest. The disciple was disturbed by the fact that his mind was in constant unrest.

He asked his teacher: "Why most people's minds are restless, and only a few possess a calm mind? What can one do to still the mind?"

Mistake worth Doing !

There were two childhood buddies who went through school and college together and even joined the army together. War broke out and both were in the same unit. One night they were ambushed. Bullets were flying all over and out of the darkness came a voice, "Harry, please come and help me."

Harry immediately recognized the voice of his childhood buddy, Bill. He asked the captain if he could go.

Weakness become Strength

This is a story of one 10-year old boy who decided to practice judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well but, even after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move.

"Master, shouldn't I be learning more moves?" the boy asked.

Someone to Understand

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."

Cracked Pot and it's purpose

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on an end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of his pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accompolish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

Elephant and Seven Blind men

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today."

They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was.

Every one of them touched the elephant.



"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg.

Experience of True Leader

(Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum , Philadelphia , March 22,2008 )

Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India ‘s satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India ‘s ‘Rohini’ satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources — but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

One moment of happiness

It was a hectic day. Full of tiring activities at office, escalations, calls, emails, trying to explain that it was not our fault.

I left office with the same bad mood, only to find a huge traffic jam starting from the office gate. My anger increased when I saw how people were trying to pull their cars, 2 wheelers from wrong side etc trying to reach home fast. But they were actually adding to the chaos which could not be solved by anyone.

A Chance to start over

It was a cold December night in West Orange, New Jersey. Thomas Edison’s factory was humming with activity. Work was proceeding on a variety of fronts as the great inventor was trying to turn more of his dreams into practical realities. Edison’s plant, made of concrete and steel, was deemed “fireproof”. As you may have already guessed, it wasn’t!

On that frigid night in 1914, the sky was lit up by a sensational blaze that had burst through the plant roof.

Acres of Diamonds

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke.

The Fern and the Bamboo

One day, a small business owner decided he’d had enough. Enough of the unremitting workload, enough of the lack of response, enough of the crushing loneliness.

He went into the woods to have one last talk to God. “God,” he said. “Can you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t quit?”

The answer took him by surprise. “Look around you,” it said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

Dedication

An old carpenter about to retire was telling his boss about his plans to stop working with construction and enjoy life with his wife and kids. He was so excited about retiring that he wasn't even looking forward to the paycheck of that month..... All he wanted was to retire.

The boss was upset about losing a good worker and as a personal favor asked the man to work on the construction of one last house.