A Short Story on Self Confidence

                   

There was a business executive who 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 has not 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 was not the money , real or imagined , that had turned his life around . It was his newfound self - confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after .