Doing One Thing at a Time

The most hectic place in the world perhaps is the information counter of the New York Central Station. Everyday it is crowded with travellers asking their questions hoping to get instant answers. To the people manning the counter, we can imagine their work pressure.

However the person behind the counter looked cool and relaxed. He was a frail and  bespectacled man. In front of him was a short and plump woman with a scalf over her head. She was anxious and wet with sweat.

The man leaned forward to listen to the woman. "Yes, how can I help you? Where do you want to go?"

At this time, a well-dressed man with a hat on his head and holding a travelling bag behind the woman came forward trying to ask a question.

But the man at the counter did not bother with him. He continued talking to the woman,"Where do you want to go?"

"Springfield."
"Is it Springfield in Ohio?"
"No, Springfield in Massachusetts."

Without referring to the timetable he said,"The train will leave in 10 minutes' time at Platform 15. You don't have to rush, there is sufficient time."
"Did you say Platform 15?"
"Yes, Ma'am."

The woman turned away. The man immediately paid his attention to the next person, the well-dressed man with a hat on his head.

But a little while later the woman came back and asked,"Did you say Platform 15 just now?"

This time the man at the counter gave his full attention to the man. He did not bother with the woman.

Someone asked him,"Can you tell me how do you keep your calmness?"

He said,"I don't face a large crowd. I only deal with the passenger one at a time."

He is right. He only serves one person at a time, that is doing one thing at a time This will make us keep our concentration on one thing and it will be fully done. If we want to deal with too many things at the same time, we may not be able to complete them and finally everything will be half done.

The Most Suitable Person in the Most Suitable Position

An experiment had been carried out by the University of California : Put 6 monkeys into 3 empty rooms, 2 in each room. An equal amount of  food was placed inside each room, but at different positions and height.

In the first room, the food were put on the floor. In the second room, the food were placed at various levels, from easily accessible to difficult positions. In the third room, the food were hung on the ceiling.

After a few days, a monkey in the first room was found injured and the other dead. Both monkeys in the third room were dead, while the monkeys in the second room were still alive and healthy.

The reason is : when the monkeys in the first room entered and saw the food on the floor, they started fighting for it resulting in one injured and one dead.

In the third room, although the monkeys had tried hard to reach for the food, they failed due to the height and were starved to death.

For the monkeys in the second room, they obtained the food with their own effort in the beginning. With the complete consumption of food at the easily accessible positions, they had to cooperate with each other by stepping onto the back of their counterpart to jump high to reach for the food. In this way, they had food everyday.

In the eyes of the management of a company, it is difficult to determine the best team. If the hurdle or target is set at a low level, everybody can carry out the assigned duties. The capability of each individual is not easily shown. Instead it may lead to internal fighting and bad competition, just like the monkeys in the first room.

If the hurdle or target is too high, although the team members have tried with great effort, nothing is achieved. Even a person's talent is not discovered and therefore wasted, like the monkeys in the third room.

It is only when the team members are placed in a suitable position according to gradual difficulty, then only a person's capability and wisdom can be unleashed.       

The Key of Happiness

The famous columnist, Sidney Harris and his friend were buying newspapers from a newsvendor. His friend thanked him politely but instead received a cold face in return.

"This guy's attitude is really bad, isn't he?", Harries said while they moved on.
"Every time he is like this.", answered his friend.
"Then why are you so nice to him?", asked Harries.
"Why should I let him determine my behavior?"

A mature person holds his/her own key of happiness. He/she does not expect other people to make him happy, instead he/she can bring happiness to others.

Every person has a 'key of happiness' in his/her heart, but we always let other people to take control of  it.

A woman grumbles,"I'm not happy, because my husband always travels leaving me alone at home."
She puts the key of happiness into her husband's hand.

A mother says,"My children won't listen to me, this makes me mad!"
She puts the key of happiness into the hands of her children.

A man might say,"My boss does not appreciate me, therefore I'm not in a good mood."
He puts the key of happiness into his boss's hand.

A young man comes out of the stationery shop and says,"The service of the cashier is really poor, I'm really hot!"
These people make the same decision, that is, letting others to control their mood.

When we let other people to take control of our mood, we feel that we are the victims, that there is nothing that we can do, grumble and anger become our only alternative.

We start to blame people and feel that they are responsible for our misery. At this time we put the responsibility to the people around us, that they should make us happy.

It seems there is no way to control ourselves other than letting others to control us. No one would like to go near us, they even avoid us.

When a mature person holds his/her own key of happiness, he/she can bring happiness to others. If his/her mood is stable, it is then a pleasure and not a pressure to be with such people.

Where is your key of happiness? Is it inside the hand of others? Get it back fast!

Be an Ever Growing Apple Tree

An apple tree finally bears fruit.

The first year, it bore 10 apples. Nine were taken away and only one was left on the tree. The apple tree was very angry and it refused to grow anymore.

The second year, it bore 5 apples, 4 were taken away and only one was left on the tree.

"Ha! Ha! Last year I got 10% of the fruits, this year 20%. That means double!", the apple tree felt much better this time.

But the apple tree should think it this way : continue to grow. If it can bear 100 apples with 90 being taken away, it can get 10 apples for itself. Possibly 99 apples being taken away with 1 left for itself. But never mind, it can still continue to grow, with the third year bearing 1,000 apples.

Most important is that the tree is still growing. When it has grown into a huge tree, it can ignore those factors which at one time stopped its growth.

Really, do not bother with the fruits. What matters most is :Growth.

Are you an employee who stops learning when you encounter some hindrance? For example, when you first started working, you were talented and you had contributed tremendously to your department or the whole company. But nobody took notice of it or perhaps you had received compliments verbally but no actual rewards.

You just feel that you are like the apple tree. You only enjoy a tiny portion of the fruits. So, you are angry and resentful. Finally you decide not to work hard, to comply with the saying that "to give peanuts and you get monkeys".

After a few years, you find that you have lost the passion for work. You will think that age has caught up. But actually you have stopped growing. Remember if you are an employee working in a badly managed company or under an unreasonable superior, never give up growing because one day when you are strong, these factors cannot hinder you anymore.

Pressure Determines Your Value

On the desk of a millionaire laid a piece of diamond, glittering brilliantly. At the corner of the fireplace was a few pieces of coals.


The coals sighed,"Oh! why are we born so black? born without any value?"


When the diamond heard this, it quickly consoled them,"My siblings, please don't feel upset!"


The coals almost answered with one voice,"Siblings? Cannot be. You.... our siblings? We are not born with a good life, with good quality of material like you. Don't tease us!"


"That's what I said, we cannot be siblings!", the coals continued.

"It's true, I don't bluff you. We are distant relatives. Our components are "carbon", aren't we siblings?"


The coals sighed,"My God! It's really not fair. Why do our fate have so much difference?"


The diamond answered,"This is beacause I have endured a great deal of pressure while under the ground. Unlike you all who came out very early, I was undernearth the ground a few thousands years more. That's why we look different."


This story tells us that :

(1) You have to be able to endure pressure, otherwise it is not easy to succeed.

(2) You have to know when to "surface on earth". Do not be impatient to show-off yourself, to express your immatured opinion, your value will be just like a piece of "coal".

Stay a little longer "undernearth the earth", learn to be low-key, to be steady and cautious. When it is time to voice out then you voice out, time to speak up then speak up, time to show-off then show-off. Your future value may be like a piece of "diamond".

"Coal" or "diamond" depends on how you face pressure and the way to handle it patiently.

Do It Early

Two young men, Robert and Tom travelled to a developed country to look for their fortune. When they reached the city centre, they wanted to find some food to fill their stomach as it was lunchtime. They looked around them and found that a fast-food cart nearby was surrounded by people ordering their food.

Robert suggested to Tom,"Shall we start a fast-food business?"

Tom said,"Eh, it looks good. But look at the cafe over there, business is not bad either. Let's look around first."

Since both of them had different viewpoint, they bid each other farewell and went their own way.

Without wasting anymore time, Robert found a place and started a fast-food stall with all his savings.

He worked diligently for eight years and finally owned a fast-food chain. He had accumulated a large amount of money. To reward himself he bought a yacht which was his childhood dream.


One day when he was about to board his yacht he saw a haggard man walking towards him. That was Tom who came with him to this land eight years ago.

Robert was so excited to see him again. He asked,"What have you been doing all these years?"

Tom said,"All these while I have been thinking: what should I do?"

#Have you started digging your well or still thinking of where to dig it?#

Dig a Well for Yourself

Two monks were neighbours in the sense that they lived in two different temples which were situated on the hills adjacent to one another. A stream ran through the valley of the hills. Everyday at almost the same time these two monks would come to the stream to fetch water. Soon they became good friends.

As time flew three years had passed. Suddenly one day the monk from the hill on the left side did not come to fetch water. The monk from the hill on the right side thought that he might have overslept. The following day the monk from the hill on the left side still did not appear. So did the third day, the fourth day..........until a week had passed.

A month had gone and the monk from the hill on the right side could not take it anymore.

He thought,"My friend could have fallen sick. I must pay him a visit to see if there is anything that I can help him."

So he climbed the hill on the left side to see his friend.

When he reached the temple there he was shocked to see that his friend was pratising Tai-Chi in front of the temple. He did not look like one who had survived without water.

He asked curiously,"You have not fetched water for a month, how can you survive?"

"Come! Let me show you something.", his friend said.

The monk led his visitor to the backyard of the temple and pointed at a well, said,"These three years during my spare time I dug the well. Even if I was very busy I still spent some time to dig it. Finally I had completed digging and I don't have to fetch water from the stream down hill. Now I have more time to practise Tai-Chi which I love so much."

In the employment world, nobody knows how long one can hold on to the job. Therefore no matter how much we earn, how much stock and shares we possess, these are only like fetching water from the stream. Do not forget to dig a well for ourselves after work, to develop our other skill or sideline, to get ready for the days when we have no water to drink.

As changing employment is not an easy task, we have to plan early as finding a new way out during good times is easier than bad times. Although many people have the idea of developing a sideline or a second skill, it is only remained in a planning stage without any action being taken.