Mindset story: The most important thing to achieve a goal

It was a bright sunny morning as the kids started to gather around the football ground. At first, there were only a couple of them and each had his own toy and equipment. Soon there were enough kids so that they could make two teams to play football. As they were about to start picking the teams they couldn’t agree who will be the captain of each team and who gets to pick first. They all agreed that the two kids that brought the first and second most important thing would be the team captains. But they couldn’t agree who brought the most most important thing. As time passed by they decided that they should just start playing the game with all the objects they had brought, and the team would be set up by just splitting them in half where they were standing. The kids on the left were one team, and the kids on the right were the other team. That is how they would play until they would figure out which is the most important thing and then they could pick the captains and after that, they could pick the teams and finally enjoy playing soccer.

As they played they started putting away things to figure out which was the one thing that they couldn’t play the game without. The first thing they got rid of was the whistle because they thought the referee could shout instead of whistling. Then the goalkeeper removed his gloves, and the players removed their shoes. They even replaced the goalpost with a couple of bins on each side. And finally, even though it seemed like they would finally come to the most important thing they replaced the ball with an old tin can and kept playing.

While all this was going on, a father and his son were passing nearby. Seeing this, the father asked his son, “What do you think the lesson is in all of this?” The son looked at his father, “I guess that you don’t need a ball to play soccer…” The father smiled back and pointed out, “Well yes and no. You see they proved that they can play without their equipment, but because of their ego and their need to prove something, they have sacrificed the quality of their game. This way, playing with those objects they will never be able to improve their skills or enjoy themselves as they could.” The son realizing his father’s point decided right then and there to never let his ego hinder his progress and that the most important thing for him is to take advantage of everything he has to achieve his goals.