On these days I'm reminded of a story I heard a few years ago. It was a story about a young man who wanted to be successful. So he did what anyone else would do and sought out the most successful person in his village. The most successful person in the village was the Guru. The young man asked the Guru, "How do I become successful like you?" The Guru looked at the young man and said, "If you want to be successful, meet me at the beach tomorrow at dawn." The young man agreed.
The next day at dawn the young man shows up at the beach in his best outfit. The Guru was there waiting. The Guru said to the young man, "Come with me into the water." The young man is confused. He didn't want to mess up his clothes, but he knew better than to refuse. So he walks in the water until the water is to his knees. The Guru looks at him and says, "Further." The young man walks deeper in the ocean until the water is to his chest and he stops. The Guru, who is by his side, whispers, "Further." The young man slowly walks out until the water is at his mouth.
All of a sudden the Guru grabs the young man's head in pushes down into the water and holds it there. The young man is kicking and clawing; trying everything he can to get back above water. The Guru holds him down with firm, strong hands. The young man begins to panic and starts to punch and kick the Guru. The Guru seems unfazed. When the young man thinks all is lost and begins to slip from consciousnesses, the Guru releases him and the young man breaks the surface of the water with a huge gasp of air.
The Guru says to the gasping young man, "When you were underwater, what did you want?" The young man is coughing and responds angrily, "I wanted to breathe you idiot! What does this have to do with success?" Then the Guru said, "It has everything to do with success. If you want to be successful, you have to want it not unlike how you wanted to breathe mere moments ago."
You see we want to be successful, but we don't need to be successful. We want to be successful as long as it doesn't take us out of our comfort zone. We aren't drowning yet. When a person is drowning, they aren't concerned about what other people think. They don't care if they look stupid. They don't care about any criticism. They don't care about anything else but oxygen.
How bad do you want to be successful? Do you want it like you want to breathe?
