Gr8 Motivational Story of the Day - 3

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Today's Motivational Story : Practice Makes you Perfect

A young Chinese boy from a tiny hamlet dreamt of becoming a Kung Fu expert like Bruce Lee and pestered his parents to admit him to a monastery where he could train to realize his dream. Reluctantly his parents agreed to send him, warning him that he would be able to return home only at the end of the term. The boy assured his parents that he would not feel homesick and would give it his best shot. He was given a grand send off by his friends who looked upon him already like a super hero. 

Once at the monastery the little boy was eager to learn the kicks and moves and wow his master with his eagerness and enthusiasm. On the first day of training, his instructor - a Monk - asked him to fetch a pot of water from a nearby well and fill a huge cask that was kept in the courtyard. After several trips the cask got filled with water to the brim. The monk now asked the little boy to splash his hands in the water really hard as if he was hitting someone. As he splashed, the water overflowed on all sides of the cask and fell to the ground. The boy was asked to continue this exercise till the water level in the cask came down.

The boy was then commanded to fetch water and refill the cask again. This process went on for the entire day, at the end of which the boy was dead tired. He however hoped that the Master would teach him the moves the following day.

To his horror the same routine continued the next day and the days that followed. It went on for the next few months. A stage came when the boy was totally frustrated and just wanted to get back home. He was very angry but could not speak up against the Master due to respect and fear. Finally at the end of the year he was allowed to go home on a short break and the boy wowed that he would never return to the Monastery. 

The boy was given a rousing welcome back home and he was admired as a hero who had dared to be away from home to pursue his dream. Soon after his arrival all the villagers and family were eager to see him display the nuances of the martial art he had learnt. They started pestering him to display a few moves.

He told them that he preferred not to but they insisted and wouldn’t take no for an answer. The humiliation grew in the young boy. Indeed he had been made a fool of by the head instructor. In a whole year he hadn’t learned any martial arts at all. Now he was about to lose face in front of his entire village.

The villagers and family members dragged him to the head table and yelled and shouted and urged him to show them some real Shaolin kungfu. He stood motionless with tears welling in his eyes and his face reddening, ashamed to tell them that he had learned nothing. Finally the frustration grew to be too much.

“Leave me alone, I learned nothing!” screamed the boy as he slammed his hand down on the table. Everyone stood silent and wide-eyed for several moments.

When he slammed his hand down, he had broken the thick stone table right in half.
 

The little boy was too shocked for words. He never dreamt that he would be capable of such an act. It then dawned on him that all the exercise that his master had given his hands over the past year had strengthened it so much that he could do the impossible for someone his age. 

He became an overnight sensation in the village and his parents were extremely proud of him. The little boy was looking forward to getting back to the monastery than ever before. 

Lesson Learnt : Most of us dream of making it big overnight. Instant success is what everyone is looking for. What one fails to realize is - a strong foundation in the basic principle of any discipline along with focused determination is a deadly combination that can take you places. 

Shared by Ankita Sahni

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