One of the keys to personal success is the positive attitude with which people face different situations in life. However, it is one thing to know that you have to have it and a very different thing to really have it when we face challenges in life.
It is because our way of seeing life depends a lot on our previous experiences. If they were good, we are more likely to face unknown situations with more confidence, as we are not going to be expecting a bad result.
This is why it is so important that our children have successful experiences. These will condition them to see life with a positive attitude, since true personal growth only comes when one is faced with a challenge in life and manages to successfully overcome it.
Unfortunately, the education that our children receive does not always meet this important area in people's personal development.
The following story helps you understand how important it is to focus and develop children's strengths for them to be successful in life:
An ancient story tells of the creation of an animal school. In this school, all the animals had to take the same courses: fly, swim, climb and run. Among the students were a duck, a flying squirrel, a fox, and an elephant.
The duck was doing great in swimming and flying, because they were his strengths, but he was at the end of the course in the climbing and running classes, so he paid special attention to those two classes. However, his paws began to hurt so much for trying to run faster and his wings were so beat up for trying to climb, that at the end of the year he repeated these two bouquets and also only managed to get regular notes in swimming and flight, which had been their strengths at the beginning of the year.
The squirrel, on the other hand, was the best student in the climbing and running course, and had second place in the flying field, after the duck. However, her weakness was swimming. During the course of the school year, she missed many classes because she had pneumonia in swimming lessons and repeated all year. She was also very talkative and restless, which is why she was diagnosed with a learning disability. In order to stay in school, she had to take make-up hours and was prescribed medication to improve her concentration.
The fox demonstrated extraordinary abilities in running class and also did relatively well in climbing and swimming. However, he became so frustrated in his attempts to fly that he began to attack his companions. He even tried to eat the duck. Due to his unruly behavior, he was expelled from school. He got together with a gang of bad animals and ended up at a rehab center for delinquent animals.
Meanwhile, the elephant developed very low self-esteem, as it fared poorly in all lines. When he was plunged into deep clinical depression, his therapist suggested that he move to a different school that focused on bouquets like lifting and transporting. The elephant was disappointed, as the lift and carry races were not as prestigious as the fly, swim, climb or run races. Although he felt inferior to others throughout his life, he managed to have a decent salary and was able to provide for his family well.
(Source: "Elijah Company" Product Catalog, 2004-2005,
This nice story may seem ridiculous, however, it contains a truth that we cannot deny. It describes very well the harm that can be caused by a generic education that does not respect the individual strengths of each person.
When a person is not successful in his life because he is constantly being required to do something that he simply cannot do, we condition him for failure. We have to demand them without quenching their spirit.
Once a person's spirit is damaged, their attitude towards life will no longer be positive.
I hope this story helps you if you have children who just don't fit in at school. You can help her discover her unique strengths and abilities and help her focus on them rather than trying to nurture her weak areas.
A good example is Drew Perry, the son of Rhea Perry, who became a millionaire at age 21. He was a child who would have been a "problem" child at school. According to Rhea, the only thing he knew how to do with a pencil in his hand was remove the tip. However, nowadays he is sought by real estate brokers who are quite old than he is to teach them his method of selling houses on ebay.
Let's all learn from this lesson and avoid subjecting our children to unnecessary suffering that can harm them for the rest of their lives.
You can read what methods Rhea used to educate Drew in a free ebook available at
