Page 150 - Musings 2022

The Secret to Success

Suhani Kanwar
2020D2TS1292P

Once upon a time, there was a young man who worked at a company. His mentor, an old
technician, taught him to talk less, do more, and never stop developing his skills in every aspect

of the factory’s operation. Ten years later, the old man retired, and the young man became a

technician himself. He continued to do his work with the same dedication and diligence as he
was taught.

One day, he visited his mentor. The old man saw that he seemed unhappy, and asked what was
troubling him. The young man sighed and poured his heart out. “I have been following your

instructions exactly all these years. No matter what I work on, I keep quiet and focus on the

job. I know I have done good work at the factory, and I have learned all the skills that can be
learned there. What I don’t understand is that the guys who don’t have my experience or

capabilities have all been promoted, while I am still making as little as I did before, when I was
your apprentice.”

The old man asked: “Are you positive that you simply became indispensable to the company?”
The young man nodded: “yes.” The old man paced back and forth to think. After a short time,

he turned to the young man: “You must request each day off, using whatever reason you wish.

It’s time for you to offer yourself an opportunity.” The young man was surprised by the
recommendation, but the more he considered it, the more it made sense. He thanked his teacher

and left to form a time-off request. When he returned to figure out after his time off, the
Manager called him into the office to inform him that things didn’t go well at the factory while

he was gone.

Others encountered many problems that normally would be handled by him, and they had no
idea how to solve them. Realising his importance, the Manager decided to promote him to the

position of Senior Technician, to thank him and encourage him to keep up the good work. The
young man was grateful for his mentor’s wisdom. Surely, he thought, this was the secret to

success! From that point on, whenever the young man felt like he deserved more than what he

was getting, he would take a day off. When he came back the next day, the situation would
improve to his satisfaction. This pattern continued for months.

One day, the young man found that he was blocked from going into the factory. Much to his
shock, he found out that his employment was terminated. He could not believe it. Not knowing

what else to do, he went back to see his mentor, to try to figure out how things had gone so

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