Why Perfect Timing is a Myth: Tips for Staying Inspired and Motivated Day in and
Day out! By Inspirational Speaker Josh Hinds
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the
story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a
valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a
little, bought it for a few coppers.
The book wasn't very interesting, but between its
pages there was something very interesting indeed.
It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written
the secret of the "Touchstone"!
The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn
any common metal into pure gold. The writing
explained that it was lying among thousands and
thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like
it. But the secret was this: The real stone would
feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some
simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began
testing pebbles.
He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and
threw them down again because they were cold, he
might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times.
So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into
the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none
of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on
this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the
sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.
The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into
months. One day, however, about midafternoon, he
picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it
into the sea before he realized what he had done.
He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each
pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted
came along, he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's
asy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in
hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.
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