The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

Wise Men Follow Stars – and Succeed In Overcoming Obstacles and Difficulties

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. A peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.

As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying on the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one’s situation.

Over the course of his career Thomas Edison patented 1,039 inventions. Edison believed in hard work, up to twenty hours

per day regularly. “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” A little known fact is that he was thrown out of school at age 12 because he was thought to be stupid. He was terrible at mathematics, unable to focus and had difficulty with words and speech. In spite of these setbacks Edison continued to read and work with a fanatical perseverance which ultimately led to his development of ingenious tools that have laid the foundation of modern society. Richard Branson, founder and chairman of London-based Virgin Group, didn't breeze through school. In fact, school was something of a nightmare for him. His scores on standardised tests were dismal, pointing to a dismal future. He was embarrassed by his dyslexia and found his education becoming more and more difficult. He felt as if he had been written off. His true gifts were not detected until a frustrated Richard Branson started a student newspaper with a fellow student. The incredible success of The Student was but the start of a richly diverse and successful career.

Despite the difficulties and challenges posed by his dyslexia, by focusing on his inner talents, Richard Branson successfully overcame his difficulties. From his first taste of success and believing in himself, Richard Branson never looked back.

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. He was a famous, controversial, and trend-setting art icon. Pablo attended local parochial schools and had a very difficult time. He is described as having difficulty reading the orientation of the letters and was labeled a dyslexic - despite the initial difficulties he was able to catch up with the curriculum. However, dyslexia made school difficult and he never really benefited from his education. Dyslexia would trouble Picasso the rest of his life.

Pablo’s father was an art teacher in Malaga, and encouraged Pablo to attend. Pablo enrolled in the school in 1892. Despite the difficulties that his learning disabilities posed, it became clear that Pablo had an incredible talent. From an early age Pablo Picasso had developed the sense of how people wanted to be seen and how others saw them. Over the course of his career he developed a unique sense of beauty and style that seemed to call to people. Pablo painted things as he saw them — out of order, backwards or upside down. His paintings demonstrated the power of imagination, raw emotion, and creativity on the human psyche. As others before him, Pablo Picasso took art to a new level. A prolific painter, some of his famous works include The Young Ladies of Avignon, Old Man with Guitar, and Guernica.

In any forum these three wise men would be judged as extremely successful – in spite of the lack of faith shown by parents, teachers and the like and the limiting difficulties each was born with. They followed their dreams and extraordinary vision – they followed their guiding star with a passion only known to but a relative few people. What is your dream – your vision – your star ? Spend time over the festive season to commit to ignoring the obvious obstacles placed before you and overcoming any difficulties that may confront you.

WHATEVER YOU CALL SUCCESS – IT’S UP TO YOU!!