Leading Narratives

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule braying, or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened. He enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling, it suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back he should shake it off and step up! This he did. "Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up" he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on shaking it o...

Three young men were once given three kernels of corn apiece by a wise old sage, who admonished them to go out into the world, and use the corn to bring themselves good fortune. The first young man put his three kernels of corn into a bowl of hot broth and ate them. The second thought, I can do better than that, and he planted his three kernels of corn. Within a few months, he had three stalks of corn. He took the ears of corn from the stalks, boiled them, and had enough corn for three meals. The third man said to himself, I can do better than that! He also planted his three kernels of corn, but when his three stalks of corn produced, he stripped one of the stalks and replanted all of the seeds in it, gave the second stalk of corn to a sweet maiden, and ate the third. His one full stalk's worth of replanted corn kernels gave him 200 stalks of corn! And the kernels of these he continued to replant, setting aside only a bare minimum to eat. He eventually planted a hundred acr...

Every year a team wins a championship. Every year a college team wins the NCAA title. Every year the best high school team in Division A on down wins the state crown. All these teams have one thing in common: No matter how tough it became throughout their season, they did one thing — they held the rope! What is “holding the rope?” Imagine that you are hanging from the edge of a cliff with a drop of twenty thousand feet. The only thing between you and an fall to your death is a rope, with the person of your choice on the other end. Who do you know that has the guts to pull you to safety? Who will hold the rope? Who do you know that is going to let that rope burn their hand and not let go? How many people that you know are going to withstand the burning pain and watch the blood drip from their hands for you? If you can name two people, that’s not good enough, because those two people might not be around. The next time your team is together, look around and ask yourself, “Who co...

Successful people often fail their way to success. Lance Armstrong won his 5th Tour de France after battling testicular cancer. Elvis Presley became “the King” after being fired from his first performance at the Grand Ole Opry being told he had no talent. Albert Einstein became a world renown scientist after being rejected by the Munich Technical School for showing no promise. Michael Jordan has become one of, if not the best, basketball player of all time after being cut from his high school team. The life of actor Michael J. Fox changed after learning he had multiple sclerosis, but it did not end. Chronic fatigue syndrome kept Laura Hillenbrand bedridden from August 1991 to the summer of 1994, but it didn’t stop her from writing the bestselling racehorse drama Seabiscuit. Thomas Edison failed thousands of times before he succeeded in making the first electric light bulb. Walt Disney got 33 rejections before he found financing for his theme park. Colonel Sanders got turned down 1,00...

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.  She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. ...