IT'S ALL IN THE MIND

A business executive was deep in debt
and could see no way out .

Creditors were closing in on him.
Suppliers were demanding payment.
He sat on the park bench , head in
hands, wondering if anything could
save his company from bankruptcy.

Suddenly an old man appeared
before him. “I can see that something
is troubling you,” he said . After
listening to the executive’ s woes , the
old man said, “I believe I can help
you.”

He asked the man his name, wrote out
a check, and pushed it into his hand
saying, “ Take this money. Meet me
here exactly one year from today, and
you can pay me back at that time .”

Then he turned and disappeared as
quickly as he had come .

The business executive saw in his
hand a check for $ 500 ,000 , signed by
John D . Rockefeller , then one of the
richest men in the world!

“ I can erase my money worries in an
instant !” he realized. But instead , the
executive decided to put the
uncashed check in his safe. Just
knowing it was there might give him
the strength to work out a way to save
his business , he thought.

With renewed optimism , he
negotiated better deals and extended
terms of payment. He closed several
big sales . Within a few months, he was
out of debt and making money once
again .

Exactly one year later, he returned to
the park with the uncashed check. At
the agreed -upon time, the old man
appeared. But just as the executive
was about to hand back the check and
share his success story, a nurse came
running up and grabbed the old man.

“ I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried .
“ I hope he hasn ’t been bothering you.
He ’s always escaping from the rest
home and telling people he ’s John D .
Rockefeller .”

And she led the old man away by the
arm.

The astonished executive just stood
there , stunned.
All year long he’ d been wheeling and
dealing , buying and selling, convinced
he had half a million dollars behind
him. Suddenly, he realized that it
wasn ’t the money , real or imagined ,
that had turned his life around.
It was just his newfound self -
confidence that gave him the security
and power to achieve anything he
went after .

Or was it the security in his mind that
gave him the confidence .

Its all in the mind …