How you can sleep while the wind is blowing

Long ago, a rich farmer who owned a large farm along the Atlantic seacoast was looking for someone who could help him manage his farm. Sometimes he had people coming in, but whom he did not consider good enough or sometimes no one wanted to come and work on farms along the Atlantic.

They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.

Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work. Then one night the wind howled loudly from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters.

He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No Sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what the helper meant, so he returned to his bed to sleep while the wind blew.

Fail to prepare and you are bound to fail: Change is hard but inevitable, sometimes you see it coming; but most times it arrives uninformed. So, while you dream big, make sure you plan well and be flexible.

Prepare like you have never won, perform like you have never failed: Success requires a strong desire and a commitment. Replace the fear of failure with preparation for success and witness the magic.

Select your battles wisely, sometimes peace is better than being right: Fight for what matters in life, be selective to problems, arguments and confrontations. Not everything you are invited to is important.

Don’t compromise your dream to fit in your reality: Compromising for your dreams is better than compromising on your dreams.

Let go of excuses and take small steps that take you closer to your dreams If you can’t handle stress, you can’t manage success: Struggles of today are the foundations of tomorrow. When you feel like quitting, think about why and where you started and what success means to you.