How a Big Fool Succeeded

There once was a young boy born to very rich parents. As a young lad he had all that he needed. H e was enrolled in a good school by his parents and while in school he performed very well in his studies. In all his school days; from the elementary classes to High school he topped his class in academics. After his High school, he couldn’t further his education for a time because his parents became broke. They had lost their business when they diversified into another kind of business which they assumed they knew so much about; though they actually knew next to nothing about the intricacies of that business. They invested a huge sum of money in that business but they unfortunately lost all.

The brainy young boy while still at home in search of who would sponsor him to a university was normally consulted at home by his former High school mates who were now in the university. He tutored them on their courses just by reading the text books those ones brought. He soon began to see himself as a very wise genius. He named himself ‘Mr.-know-it-all’. One day, he thought to himself; “I don’t think I need to go to any school any more or meet any teacher of some sort; after all I teach all these undergraduates; I think I even know better than their lecturers. I’ll simply go into business for my self and go ahead to succeed”

His father sought to give him counsel so that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes he made that led to his failure in business, but he wouldn’t listen. Business after business he tried, but he failed miserably in all and soon was in huge debt and very broke. He was soon forced to become a vagrant so as to flee from those he was hugely indebted to. Many well meaning friends came to him in an attempt to give him sound counsel; even those who were already a success in the kinds of businesses he tried to set up but failed at. He simply shunned all their counsel. “I am aiming to make it bigger than you folks” he told them; “where I want to get to, you haven’t been there; so what do you have to tell me?” he questioned them. And sadly all his well-meaning friends were forced to leave him alone. He soon became very wretched; feeding himself became hard.

One day he picked up a piece of paper from a side walk as he wandered in the streets of one of the big cities. He noticed that it was a page from a book he was familiar with as a child. His eyes fell on a part of that paper and he read:

“seest thou a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope of a fool than of him”

The words struck him. He read it again and again; sat by the sidewalk and read the entire defaced paper in his hand front and back page; over and over again. He walked quickly to a nearby shop and was lucky to find an old free copy of the book from the bookseller. He soon discovered that the book was a compilation of the words of wisdom written by one of the richest kings that lived in ancient times. That night, he arrived at a decision while he laid down on a pile of abandoned cartons that served as his bed in a secluded corner of the public park; he had discovered the cause of his failures. He renamed himself ‘Big Fool’.

His journey to success had begun. That small book became his companion. He read through it day and night. And from reading the book he saw the first step to success in life. He discovered that success was not a destination but a process that the successful have learned to implement and live by all the days of their lives so that they could realize and experience the kind of life they desired continuously.

The first wisdom for success that he discovered was from a portion of that same book:

“I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or even the earth was”

1. Big Fool chose who to become:

A man becomes who he is today, the very day he made a decision to become that, or start walking on that path. For example Bill Gates became the CEO and President of Microsoft Corporation the very day he chose to become a computer expert as a young lad. By enthusiastically sticking to that decision and working hard at becoming that, he was knowingly or unknowingly following a path; and overtime he was transformed to who he became today.

Successful people in any endeavour of life are either called to that field or they chose to go that way. Calling in itself is like an inner urge or attraction to go towards a particular direction in life or to pursue a particular profession that lays hold on an individual and refuses to let go of him until he fulfills that longing. ‘Big Fool’ named himself that because he chose to become a life-long learner with the aim of becoming also a life-long teacher of those who cared to learn. The name kept him on that path.

No man ever becomes successful who refused to define their exact path of their life time on earth. This exercise of self-discipline is like an initiation which those who actually desire to make the most of life have put themselves through. Irresolution on sticking to the path of life to walk is the first demon that must be mastered by the truly success-seeker. ‘Big Fool’ saw that he actually failed in his past business ventures the day he made a decision to go into business as ‘Mr-know-it-all’ without defining what service he intended to render humanity and how to go about it intelligently so as to profit by it.