I read a story today that gave me a picture of my true aspirations. I had given one of my protege’s an assignment, I asked him to read a book, summarize it and present it to me as a PowerPoint presentation. It had taken him over 3 weeks, not haven used MS PowerPoint before. Eventually he came to make the presentation. First of all, he will need to redo the exercise, but in the spirit of everything is useful, I decided to pay close attention to a story in the e-book he read. Here is the story (tweaked to express my views).

There was once an old fellow, woman or man, I cannot tell. He had been at a particularly strategic spot for about 30yrs begging for alms. On this particular day, a stranger approached him, an in his regular style he called on to the stranger and held out his hand for the stranger to give something. Instead of giving him something, the stranger responded -“I don’t have anything to give you!” Then he asked, “what is that you are sitting on?” “Nothing,” replied the beggar. “Just an old box. I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember.” “Ever looked inside?” asked the stranger. “No,” said the beggar. “What’s the point? There’s nothing in there.” “Have a look inside,” insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.

That stranger walking by, that’s me (by aspiration). I am that stranger that has nothing to give you, but who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, like the parable but inside you. All I have is a little information about where your miracle hides, I don’t have anything, save information. At times it might sound like knowledge, at other times like wisdom, but the raw material is information.

You might refute and say you are not a beggar, that’s correct, you are not. But you are looking for something. You’ve moved from job to job, from experience to experience, from relationship to relationship, from high to high and low to low, you are looking for something. You are chasing a high, you are looking for scraps of pleasure, of security, of validation, of fulfillment. You go online, type in Google, and search. You are looking for motivation, for love, for success, greatness, significance. You have a need, and chances are, you have been searching for many years.

I’ve come to town to tell you to look inside of you. Your limitations are not without, they are within. You have a wealth of treasure on your inside, it’s all you need. What you don’t have, you don’t need. The reason why you think you need all that you are going after, is that you haven’t taken a proper look at what is within. Quit roaming through life begging for scrap while sitting on precious stones!

We get so used to our routines, we don’t see them for what they are anymore. Don’t lock yourself into your room because you don’t have money to buy food in the ship of life, get out and exercise your rights, the ticket that guarantees your boarding guarantees your feeding. You were packed with all that you will need at conception, your assignment is to discover those resources within you, and use them for the good of all. You are a prince don’t dress like a pauper, you are a jewel, don’t gather with stones, you are too much for your comprehension. You should walk like the kings daughter, talk with authority, bounce with confidence. Quit looking at the mirror of society, look within.

No amount of coaching will make a snail win a race against a hare, no known college degree will elevate a rabbits speed to that of a cheetah. When you identify your core competence and you expose it to training and practice, you are well on your way to opening the lid on your box of Gold. The greatest and most significant of men, don’t have a PHd in their competence areas, they only exposed their flairs to the fiery furnace of consistency. If I get a professorial fellowship in boxing today, Tyson will still beat me silly.

So, look within…and work with what you see.