A Wonderful Little Parable About Self-Belief

Once a businessman was up to his neck in debt, and could not see a way out of his situation. He was in the red to his creditors and his suppliers were demanding payment every day.

He went to the park to distract himself from his worries but all the same unhappy thoughts remained stuck in his head. The man dropped his head into his hands, casting about in his mind for ideas which could save his business from bankruptcy. Suddenly, an old man appeared before him.

“I see that something is troubling you“, he said. ”Won’t you share your thoughts with me?"

The businessman told him about his problems, about his lack of money and his bank’s refusal to give him some extra credit to promote his business.

The old man listened without interrupting, and then said:

"I think that I can help you."

He asked for the businessman’s name, wrote out a cheque and put it in the surprised man’s hand.

"Take this money. I’ll meet you here in exactly one year, and you can then give it back to me".

The man didn’t have time to say anything before the old man had melted into the crowd.

The businessman looked at the cheque. In the space for the amount of money, the old man had written out a sum of $500,000, and below it was written the name — "John D. Rockefeller." John D. Rockefeller. One of the richest men in the world!

"I can do away with all my problems in an instant!" he thought. But instead, the businessman decided to put the cheque in his safe. The thought of its existence alone gave him the strength he needed to work out a way to save his business.

With renewed vigour, he closed some good deals and managed to have the terms of his payments extended. He was able to make some big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and began earning money again. And a year later, he returned to the park with the cheque.

At the appointed time, the old man appeared. The businessman was ready to give the cheque back and to tell him about his successes, when a nurse came running over and grabbed the old man.

“I’m so glad I finally caught him!“ — she exclaimed. ”I hope he didn’t bother you. He often runs away from home and tells people that he is John D. Rockefeller".

The businessman just stood there feeling stunned. Throughout the preceding year he had been busy as a bee doing business, buying and selling, in the belief that at any moment he could use that half a million dollars to save himself if the situation demanded it.

Suddenly, he realised that it wasn’t money — real or imagined — that had turned his life around. It had been his new self-belief that had given him the strength to achieve all that he wanted.

So remember, be proactive. At the crucial moment, belief in yourself always plays a key role.