A farmer in Pennsylvania decided to sell his farm, but before he sold it, he wrote to his cousin in Canada, who collected coal, and asked for a job. In those days, coal oil, which dipped from running Canadian streams, where it was first discovered, was lucrative business.
The farmer, a sensible man, did not want to leave his farm without securing his livelihood so he wanted to make sure his cousin would hire him before he left. His cousin, however, was not enthusiastic about the proposal and wrote back to discourage the farmer, arguing that the farmer did not know anything about the coal oil business.
This blatant rejection did not discourage the farmer. He simply sat down and studied all about coal oil, studying it from the second day of creation. He read about how the world had once been covered with rich vegetation which eventually turned to coal beds, and when those rich coal beds were drained, they furnished coal oil. The coal oil worth pumping came up from living springs.
The farmer studied coal oil until he could almost see it and smell it.
When he believed he knew how to refine it, he wrote back to his cousin asking for a job again. He spelled out how he had painfully studied every aspect of the business. Reluctantly, his cousin invited him over.
The farm was sold well below market value as the farmer was eager to make his way to Canada to begin a new life of industry and prosperity.
The new owner decided that the first thing he needed to do was to see if the cattle had enough water. At the brook, behind the dilapidated barn, he found a black-stained plank that appeared to have been placed years ago to throw dark scum onto the bank. The plank separated off the clean, drinkable water from the scum-laden water.
He called in a geologist, who, after careful tests, declared that the scum was coal oil, worth an estimated hundred million dollars. The geologist estimated that the coal-oil that stained the plank was about twenty-three years old. The new owner laughed at the irony of the whole situation: although the old farmer had studied coal oil from the second day of creation, he had sold his own vast reservoir for a mere $833.
"If only the old farmer had the wisdom to notice the fortune in his own backyard," said the new owner to the geologist.
Resource Box
Saleem Rana got his Masters degree in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. discover how to create a remarkable life
Copyright 2004 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or newsletter. It's a shareware article.
car service from Midway Burlington .. Lockport Chicago limo O’Hare(Excerpted From The Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan - Pillar... Read More
Choice isn't always a matter of being able to choose... Read More
Work addiction is an unrestrained, unfulfillable internal demand for constant... Read More
* Perfectionism is a time waster.Strive for excellence on important... Read More
Can anyone become a successful businessperson? I am asked this... Read More
I prefer to call the challenges, obstacles, side-tracks, and barriers... Read More
Success is a word that is much used in our... Read More
(Excerpted from the 1999 Weekend Seminar audio/CD series)Parents, leaders, employers,... Read More
What do you need to do to be successful? If... Read More
Did you know that your past, present, and future can... Read More
Here are a few suggestions that I try to put... Read More
Perfect the fine art of the end run From time... Read More
The Definition Of PerseveranceFrom a dictionary: "Persisting in or remaining... Read More
In the first part of this article you learned some... Read More
Sometimes short cuts are not worth taking. They may bring... Read More
Success is creating what you want the way you want... Read More
Commit yourself to spending time only with people who are... Read More
In my private practice for the past 13+ years I... Read More
"A man's life is what his thoughts make of it."-... Read More
What Makes the Difference?On a warm spring afternoon, fifteen years... Read More
Friendly competition Get together with a group of like-minded friends... Read More
Let me tell you story about a friend of mine... Read More
If you are wishy-washy and undecided about you want and... Read More
Quote of the month: Am I working to live or... Read More
Circus trainers used to tie a chain around a baby... Read More
Granger limo Chicago ..I have found that sometimes the subtle difference in our... Read More
Greatness is all around us. From Oprah to Bill Gates... Read More
What if I told you that you could be more... Read More
An odd but frequent barrier to prosperity is the belief... Read More
Those of you who know me, know that I am... Read More
Success could be just about making money, but I think... Read More
Let me ask you a question? What must happen for... Read More
Both the worst and the best of the great achievers... Read More
We all want to improve our top line - our... Read More
Quote of the month: Am I working to live or... Read More
I'll let you in on a little secret...life delivers pretty... Read More
Unexpected life changes. Anticipated transitions. Long, sleepless nights. What do... Read More
Hello,You are reading this article because you are one of... Read More
Pain. All of us have felt that emotion some time... Read More
The Great Library of Alexandria once held the wisdom of... Read More
Each human being, who exists above the level of simple... Read More
The need to be successful. This is the bottom line... Read More
Success starts in your mind. Positive Thinking creates the advantage.Success... Read More
How many times have you thought about being successful, famous,... Read More
Wow, what an outrageous claim! Why do I say this?... Read More
Dare to Dream~It is said that every person has at... Read More
The most under rated method to achieve success is: The... Read More
Wealth is more than money. It's abundance, or as the... Read More
The best way to predict your future is to create... Read More
Do you feel like your stuck?No matter what you do,... Read More
Success |