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.