A boy once asked a wise old man what the secret to success is. After listening to the boy’s question, the wise man told the boy to meet him at the river in the morning and he would be given the answer there.

In the morning, the wise man and the boy began walking toward the river. They continued on into the river, past the point of the water covering their nose and mouth.  At this time, the wise man ducked the boy into the water.

As he struggled to get out, the wise man continued to push him further down. The boy felt a fish slip by his leg and squirmed to get up even harder. The man eventually pulled the boy’s head up so he could get air. The boy gasped as he inhaled a deep breath of air.

The wise man said, ‘What were you fighting for when you were under water?” The boy replied, “Air!” The man said, “There you have the secret to success. When you want to gain success as much as you wanted air when you were under water, you will obtain it. That’s the only secret.”

Moral of Story

Success starts with the desire to achieve something. If your motivation is weak, your results will follow suit. Think about what you desire the most in life and work towards getting it. Don’t allow your environment or other people to influence the things that you truly want. Just because the fish swimming by is comfortable with being under water doesn’t mean that you too are that comfortable.