A little bit of motivation for the next 4 months for all you stalkers of this site :)
Ever heard of this story? There once were two popular carpenters in Venice. They both were students of a good carpenter who passed on his skills to them before he died. One was a rich man’s son. He was quite good at his trade, but he relied mostly on his connections. That was Daniel. The other was a weird one. He claimed that once he started working, he would not stop or eat. That was Lucas.
Lucas was not interested in being successful. That was not so for Daniel. He was always trying to find ways to get rid of Lucas, so he could be the most popular carpenter out there in Venice. Lucas became less and less popular, all thanks to Daniel. He used his connections, and forced Lucas to take on all the most difficult jobs. Because they were so difficult, there was little time or resources to complete them, so Lucas was pretty much stuck in a rut. These difficult jobs needed extra time or skills which the simpler jobs did not require.
Thus, after a very short time, Daniel had succeeded. Lucas’ popularity was plummeting, and it was finally time for Daniel to really shine. And just when he was thinking that, it was over for him.
In a few years’ time, Lucas’ popularity had completely surpassed Daniel. He was the number one carpenter in Venice. Government agencies and private developers alike sought for the services of Lucas, often fighting among themselves just to get into Lucas’ waiting list to have him oversee the construction of new buildings or repair the old and damaged ones.Do you know how Lucas did it? That was what Daniel asked him too.
“You sneaky good for nothing wastrel! What did you do? How could it be that you are even more popular than me? Hey! Answer me! Did you bribe more people than me? How could you have done that? You do not have any powerful connections! Did you marry someone whose father is even more powerful than my father in law? Huh? Just what happened? What did you do that I did not? How can I lose to a lousy carpenter like you? I thought I gave you all the most difficult jobs!”
Lucas answered thusly, “You are right. Thanks to those difficult jobs, I was able to improve. I should thank you.”
