How a Brown Belt Saved My Life

On a beautiful Tuesday morning, when the wind was blowing softly and the sky was bright, my brother was all dressed and ready to go. He was on his favourite dress code – T-shirt, three-quarter shorts and loafers – but could not find his belt.
It was a brown belt I lent him a few weeks back when his belt damaged from man-handling.
So we searched. My, my, did we search. We searched the first cloth hangar thoroughly. We checked between clothes, around clothes, inside shirts and trousers, moving different clothing items in the process. It wasn’t there.
We moved to the second cloth hangar and conducted a more thorough search. Nothing.
We moved to his wardrobe. We checked between books, checked behind his folder, and even looked under the deodorants and body creams. Still nothing.
We moved to my wardrobe. Those who know me well will tell you – I love carrying load. Like seriously. As early as primary school, I always had the heaviest bag – notebooks, textbooks, pencils, food flask, crayons, pens and my water bottle – always found their space in my bag. As you might already suspect, my bags needed constant repair and regular replacement.
So, you can imagine how my wardrobe looks like. Six piles of books, different shapes of bags and folders, old shoes, electrical tools, shoe brushes, even chalks and <insert any other outrageous item>.
We began the search – and, it took an amazingly short time – and found nothing.
My brother gave up and went to do something else. I sat on the bed as started my mental routine to search for stuff.

Where last did you see it?

Hanging on the chair.

When?

In the middle of the night.

Did you touch it?

I think I remember doing so, or is my mind playing games?

So you touched it?

Maybe.....yes.

What did you do with it?

(Think, think......THINK!) I can’t remember.

I thought and thought and it occurred to me to lift up the shirt I was wearing.
There it was. I was wearing it!
I sped out of the room and called my brother. I then told him where I found it. He cracked up, laughing and laughing and laughing some more, before he put on the helmet belt and went out.
Well, I’m sure you’re at least smiling now. But as I walked back to the room, it hit me.
People spend years and years and YEARS searching for that one thing – the right business idea, the right job, the right this and that. But, for many of them, if they would be patient enough to till the ground they already have, they’ll produce the greenest pasture they can ever see. The truth is this: If the pasture over there looks greener, it’s probably getting better care.
I’m sure you must have heard the story Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell. (If you haven’t, here’s a link to it). It’s an inspiring story of Ali Hafed, an African farmer who sold his farm and left his home in  search of diamonds. The buyer of the farm found the precious diamonds Ali was searching endlessly for by merely digging with his hands in Ali's former garden. Ali ended up committing suicide, never finding the diamonds he sought. His story ended like this: “Had Ali Hafed remained at home and dug in his own cellar, or underneath his own wheat-fields, or in his own garden, instead of wretchedness, starvation, and death by suicide in a strange land, he would have had 'acres of diamonds.' For every acre of that old farm, yes, every shovelful, afterward revealed gems which since have decorated the crowns of monarchs."
Well, painful, but true. You really don’t always need to quit your job, start a new career, move to a new neighbourhood or start a new business.
Don’t get me wrong. There are certain cases where a job, a career, a business is just square peg for your round hole. In such cases, you need to get out fast. A distinguishing characteristic of such things is that you do not want to or care enough to be in the top 10% of whatever it is. Excellence in such cases is not a priority. That’s when you need to move. If it is right for you, you’ll want to excel (except of course, you’re lazy, then nothing will work).
If it is yours, then it’s yours. Keep up the patient hard work. The big break will come.
There’s an inspiring quote I heard when I listened to a tape by Earl Nightingale. It has always inspired me to work just a little bit harder. Here it is:

“Do your work. Not just your work and no more, but a little more for the lavishing sake, that little more which is worth all the rest. And if you suffer as you must, and if you doubt as you must, do your work. Put your heart into it and the sky will clear. And then out of your very doubt and suffering will come the supreme joy of life.” ~Dean Briggs

UEU