A farmer and his old mule / Face difficulties positively

[Toastmasters speech delivery]

 

Story telling – A8 The Moral of the Story

Objectives:
•        To understand that a story can be entertaining yet display moral values
•        To create a new story that offers a lesson or moral
•        To tell the story using the skills developed in the previous two projects
Time: 5-7 minutes
at Legacy TMC, Taipei, Taiwan

A farmer and his old mule

Once upon a time….
There was a farmer who owned an old mule.
One day, the mule fell into the farmer’s well.
The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever when the mule fall into the well.
After carefully estimating the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well were not worth the trouble of saving.
Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well, and put himself out of his misery.

In the beginning, the old mule was hysterical!

“How come you did that to me! I have worked so hard for you for my whole life!”
But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him.
It suddenly lighted him up that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself.

No matter how painful the blow was, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!
It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped successfully over the wall of that well finally!

What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him . . . all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

We see this kind of situation happened in reality quite often.

When a big enterprise faces problem and plans to execute layoff, the names on the top of the list usually are senior management.
In the year end party last year, I got an award for senior staff who has been contributing to the company for 10 years.
It’s an honor, but also an alert to me.
If one day our company needs to face cutting down cost, I will be the No. 1 on the list for layoff.
What should I do to make myself indispensable?

5 years ago, my younger brother told me an information, that there is an international certificate named CCIM.  There were only a few qualified CCIMs in Taiwan.  Such as 連勝武 son of 連戰 and 林之延 son of founder of Hwanan Bank, who have also pursued this professional certificate.

A CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) is a recognized expert in the commercial and investment real estate industry.
For example, if an international investor or a mutual fund wants to invest in buying Taipei 101, a professional report and advice from CCIM will be a basis for decision making.
I then had spent time studying hard to get this International Certificate in 2009.
 

Furthermore, I got involved to help establishing a CCIM chapter in Taiwan in 2010 and was elected as the chair of PR committee of Taiwan chapter.

The training I have learned from Toastmasters helps me a lot when I communicate with CCIM HQ in Chicago or receive CCIM visitors worldwide.

Now it is a big plus to me in my job, and my company relies on my professional knowledge very much, such as in investing business building, developing a sea port and some other investment projects.

If there is a list for layoff at present, I am sure that I will be in the bottom on it. Or I am not afraid to be on the top of the list, because I can work individually with my international certificate afterwards.

THAT’S LIFE!

If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give into panic, bitterness, or self-pity, we will get out from the swamp eventually and make us even shinier than before.

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