Self-Confidence: The Intrinsic Worth

by Mohammad Haidar

Title	Newborn self-confidence
Problem	being in deep debt and fighting to save my company from bankruptcy
Setting	Time: during a weekend Place: the national park
Characters	Old man, nurse, and I
Major events	-being in debt -meeting the old man -boosting self-confidence -sign new agreements -knowing the real old man
Solution	Being equipped with self-confidence, paying all my debts and running my company all over again

 Self-Confidence: The Intrinsic Worth

“Every time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in doing”. You may ask me what that stands for, suffice it to say that I am one of the few people who had the fear of hardships and who used self-confidence to overcome the obstacles and reach success. The role of self-confidence ranges from achieving goals and aims to overcoming obstacles and mishaps to reaching success and fight back. However, nothing is considered exciting and thrilling than self-confidence, thanks for the crazy person, who boosted my self-confidence, made himself john D.

          I was a business executive manager for a well-known company that was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in me. Suppliers were demanding payments. I was hesitant about what to do. On a sunny Sunday, I went to the park, hands in head wondering if anything could save my company from bankruptcy. Suddenly an old man appeared in front of me and said “I can see something is troubling you” after telling my horrible story about my company. The old man said, “I believe I can help you”. He asked about my name, wrote out a check and passed it into my hands saying “take this money and meet me here one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time”. Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

       I looked into my hands and saw a 500000 thousand check, signed by John D., one of the richest people on earth. I whispered to myself, “I can erase all my money worries with this check” but then I decided to put the uncashed check back into my safe. Just knowing it was there, it gave me the strength to work out a way to save my business. With renewed optimism, I negotiated better deals and extended terms of payments. I closed several big sales, within a few months, I was out of debt and making money once again without using a cent from the check. 

    Exactly one year later, I returned to the park with the uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just I was about to hand back the check and share my success story. A nurse came running and grabbed the old man. “I am so glad I caught him” she cried. “I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He always escapes from the rest home and tells people he is John D... Then she led the old man by the arm. I stood astonished and stunned. I was all year long been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced that I had half millions of dollars behind me.

          At the end of the day I learned that we should never surrender to the psychological barrier of illusion. My own experience had taught me that it wasn’t for the money that had turned my life upside down, it was the newfound self-confidence that gave me the power to cope with a sudden and unexpected change.