The Secret of Success

There was once a boy who wanted to seek the secret of 

success. One day he approached a wise man living up in 

the mountain. When he found the wise man at the hut, he 

asked, “Wise man, can you tell me the secret to becoming 

successful in life?” The wise man was silent for a 

while. After a moment of silence, the wise man led the 

young lad to a nearby river. They kept walking into the 

river until the boy’s head was fully submerged in the 

water. The boy struggled to keep his head above the 

water. To his astonishment, the wise man did not help 

him. Instead, the wise man held the boy’s head in the 

water. After a few minutes the wise man pulled the boy 

out of the water and they proceeded to walk back to the 

hut. At the hut the wise man asked the young boy what 

he desired most when his head was submerged in water. 

To this the young boy quickly responded, “Of course, I 

wanted to breathe, you old fool!” To which the wise man 

replied, “Son, if you desire success as much as you 

wanted to breathe, then you would have found the true 

secret of success.”

Posted by Priya Deelchand