An epitome to perseverance and dedication

Once upon a time, there was a guy named Alex who was looking for a job; a job of any kind. He went through many incidents in his life: losing his parents at a very young age and losing his home because of his father’s debt. Alex used to spend nights on the road. He tried getting a job, but his efforts were worthless. One day, Alex decided to give it one more try and started looking for a job opportunity at nearby companies.

He entered inside a company and asked if the interviewers could conduct one round to recruit him. The receptionist agreed. After two days, on the day of the appointment, he entered the cabin of the boss named Richard. When Richard sensed that there was someone inside his cabin, he turned around and gave weird looks to Alex for which Alex felt bad. Nevertheless, Alex greeted him. Richard asked him to sit down.

After two minutes of silence, the manager started firing general questions like “Where are you from? What was your previous job? What changes can you bring to my company?” for which Alex answered very well.

Then, the manager said, “Tell me your email address.” Astoundingly, Alex looked at the manager and asked “What sir?”

The manager again repeated the same question.

Alex replied. “Email address? What is this? I’ve never heard of this term.”

The manager laughed and said, “You don’t even know what email address and you’re expecting I will give you this job. Really? In this era, you don’t know, what is an email address? I’m shocked. How can be a person so stupid? Your interview is done. You can leave.”

Alex said, “Sorry, sir. I will do whatever you will say. I really need this job.”

Mr. Richard screamed. “LEAVE!”

Alex stood up from there and left the place. For the next two days, Alex kept thinking what is this email address, I don’t have this. I don’t think anyone will offer me a job without this.

Then, an idea strummed his mind. Alex decided to do small jobs. He started washing plates in a restaurant. After five hours of this job, he joined another job to load cartons.

 

After a year, his financial conditions started improving. Alex stopped doing small jobs; he saved enough money and started his own business. After five years, he became very famous and started recruiting people for jobs in his company. He was very satisfied with his job.

One day, one of his company’s friends came to him and asked him for his email address.

He said, “I don’t have an email address”.

His friend, surprised, asked “What are you saying, you don’t have an email address? Just think about it, without an email address, you have succeeded that much in life. . . What if you would have an email address? You will be more successful. Just imagine, if you would have created your mail id where would you have been?”

He smiled and replied, “If I had created an email address, I would be an employee in Mr. Richard’s company. I would not be there in front of you. There would be no company of mine. I would have worked under someone for the rest of my life. I’m blessed that I refused to create an email address and went with my own decision.”

This experience helped Alex to understand some of the valuable things that he never thought of.

Sometimes, you will go through really tough times. It’s those times when everything you do just kind of flops, and it feels like your life is going downhill, which makes you feel very sad.

In these challenging situations, maintaining a good mindset is probably the most important thing you can do. It will allow you to stay upbeat, avoid pointless sorrow, persist through the hardship, find smart solutions and eventually turn the situation around.

When the going gets tough, it’s common for us to stop seeing our strengths and only be aware of our flaws. Thus, we see ourselves as losers, incapable to rise above difficult situations. But this is never true. Just like any other person out there, you have a combination of strengths and weaknesses.

The key is to remind yourself that you have that zeal to face the difficulties. Perhaps start thinking about some of them in particular, and do a quick mental check of some of your strengths. By doing this, your perception of yourself will shift and become more balanced. Again, this will empower you and give you confidence that you’ll handle the situation whatever it is. Always follow your values and set a goal, you will achieve your goals for sure.

It is often said in the personal development world that there is no failure, only feedback. When going through tough times in life though, we tend to forget this. We see failure as an indicator that we’re not on the right path, but not as a learning experience that can put us on the right path.

Most learning in life comes from trial and error. And when things aren’t going the way you want them to go, the best thing you can do is to try to understand why this is happening and learn from the experience. It is by learning and applying that learning that you’ll eventually turn things around.