Never Give Up
In today's fast-paced world, people often get disheartened by the obstacles they face in their personal and professional lives.
However, the secret to success is persistence, patience, and belief in oneself. Ziad Rayess writes in his book "Shortcut for a Better Life" about a valuable lesson he learned about persistence from an old tale. He stresses the importance of trying, even when the odds seem stacked against you, and planting seeds until they eventually sprout plants.
The Power of Persistence:
In his book "Shortcut for a Better Life", the writer Ziad Rayess mentions: Over the course of the past year, we’ve faced a lot of potholes and bottlenecks at work. At many points, I almost gave up. I was waiting for a coup de grâce. But I never stopped trying. I don’t always know how things will go, but there’s always an answer, somewhere, even where you least expect it. There’s always a way, or new data that resets the scales. and God gives us new wind in our sails, limited as it may be.
I would like to tell an old story of something that happened to me. I always tell this story. It has a moral related to persistence, effort, and patience.
About twenty years ago, we were buying some types of packaged fruits from a factory in Spain under our brand name. There was another seller or producer named John, from the same country, who made the same products and worked with some sellers from this region. He came to visit every year and was especially keen on visiting me. Every year, he made his pitch and tried to convince me to work with him.
On the third annual visit, he turned to me and said,
“Look, can I tell you something? I always meet up with you at shows in Germany, France, and Dubai, and I give you my whole presentation and try to convince you to work with me. And every year I come to your country and make sure to visit you, but you don’t buy anything from me. Even so, you should know that I’ll be sure to keep visiting you every year. Mark my words: on my tenth visit, you’ll buy something from us, and we’ll do business.”
And in fact, a few months after that visit, we started to work together.
This stayed with me as a lesson in the importance of persistence, patience, and belief in the value of trying your best. What I’d like to say here is: Continuing to try is the root of success. It is also a cosmic law for continuation of life; only a small fraction of the flowers on the tree bear fruit. Only a few out of all the salmon succeed in getting through the rapids, and only a tiny fraction of millions of fish eggs grow enough to produce fish. Cosmic laws are the same way.
So we must leave despair and surrender behind and keep planting seeds until, someday, they sprout plants.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the story shared by Ziad Rayess highlights the value of perseverance and patience in achieving success. One should never give up, even in the face of setbacks and obstacles, as was learned from the experience with the tenacious salesman John. Cosmic laws dictate that only a few of the many seeds planted will eventually sprout into plants, but without planting them, there is no chance of growth. Therefore, we must keep trying and never give up hope in our pursuit of success.