The Again Principle

There once was a wise old man who told his wealthy young friend how to obtain much success in life. The wise old man told him that a book existed that held the mysterious of the universe and that if the young man truly wanted to be happy and successful in life, he would do all within his power to obtain it and study it. The rich young man believed his wise old friend and learned that an ill-tempered king in a land far away was in possession of the book. So, the young man journeyed to the city, entered the palace and asked to speak to the king. The king did grant the young man audience so he asked the king graciously if he could have the book. The king was angry that a stranger would ask anything from him and he threatened to kill the young man if he did not leave immediately. The young man left and came up with a new plan. This time he brought all of his possessions, gold, silver, and anything of value to the king and asked if he could purchase the book from the king. The king saw all of the beautiful possessions and wanted them for himself however he still did not want to give away anything he owned to this stranger so he ordered his guards to kill the wealthy young man. The young man escaped narrowly but lost all of his riches as they fell in to the hands of the king. Finally, unsure of how he was going to obtain the book but knowing he must do so; the now once rich young man entered the city wall again, this time late at night. He was very careful for he feared for his life but in a dark alley near the castle he saw a man drunk. As he approached him he noticed it was the king. While the king was drunk he astutely dressed himself in the king’s robes and went to kings chambers where he asked his servant to fetch him the book. The servant, believing it was his master, returned with the book and the young man was able to accomplish his desire and escape the city safely with the book.

I recently heard a speaker share a very similar story as this while explaining a powerful principle known as the Again principle. Many of us have hope, dreams, and desires yet we are unwilling to try again. We allow discouragement and a lack of faith to convince us that we cannot obtain what we desire. However, those who try again always find success.

In the story, most of us would probably quit after our first attempt to obtain the book. The young man had traveled far and had made a good attempt but things just didn’t work out. It would have been easy to move on, justifying that we had tried our best and we were in danger. We simply would have settled with disappointment and failure. Some of us may have tried a second time but then would have despaired when even a larger sacrifice to obtain our desire did not pan out as planned. The man in the story however did not despair and tried again a third time risking his life to obtain his desire.

Though in most instances we may not be required to risk our lives, many times we give up too easy, we settle for unfulfilled dreams, we allow ourselves to get distracted and discouraged and we move on when if we simply would try again, we would eventually find success. The Again principle is precisely that. That many times to obtain our dreams we must try again, and again, and again, and again and by so doing, we will eventually obtain the prize.

Success is often awarded to the persistent. If we can learn to be persistent, accept failure, challenges, and obstacles, and always apply the Again Principle, we will have success in life.