Believe - Act - Result - Belief

Antoni Gaudi Believed he could fuse Nature with his Work

hence the La Pedrera

         This is the marketing concept by Philip Kotler in his Principles of Marketing. It simply states the state of mind is formed by 3 processes, firstly the Belief, then the Action (not just words) and then the Result will then recalibrate the Belief and on it goes, either in a virtuous or vicious cycle forever in a circle or cycle.

       There was a  young man who was down on his luck, so he was at the park bench just looking downcast and wondering how he was going to pay off all of his gambling, company debts and house mortgage which was also pulling him down, as his company was sinking in the red. He thought of ending it all and saving the agony of facing all the lawyers, debt collectors and banks, and trade creditors. He was really tired, and was down, really down. 

      An old man walked by, he stopped by the young man and said, "Young Man, whats troubling you ? " The young man looking up and just wanting a listening ear told him of all o his troubles in life, his struggling business which was affecting his mood and hence his arguments with his wife, leading him to try his luck at the casinos and hence end up losing a bundle, which was supposed to be the college eduction fund for his 2 kids, and the list went on and on... 

    After listening, the old Man said, "Son, I will do you a favour, I am Warren Buffett. Take this cheque and meet me here, again at this park 1 year from now ". With that, the old man whipped out a cheque book and wrote a staggering amount of $500,000 and signed off "Warren Buffet". 

    The young man was astounded and could not believe his eyes. "Thank you sir ! I will make good this cheque and repay it back to you with interest ! Thank you for believing in me !" With that he hugged Mr. Buffett and took the cheque and walked quickly back to his office.

     Once back in the office, the Young Man reflected on his luck. He put the cheque right in front of his desk beside his family photos. "Well, someone believes in me ! I will use this cheque as a motivation. In fact I am so fired up, I will relook at my company's finacial position, renogiate the loan with the banks, relook at how to restructure my core business, hive off department A and merge B and C plus we need to expand to territory D'. He started facing all of his creditors with a new and willing heart and taking a never say die attitude with Warren Buffett's cheque as motivation he worked long hours. His staff saw his change and new found belief, quickly things started moving, orders started to flow in from new territories, people were moved and the unlucky ones given notices of release. It was painful but he worked with a new found passion and vision.

     The one year flew by. The man lived up to his promise. One year later, he waited at the park at exactly the same time and the Old Man was sitting there. The Young Man proudly presented back the $500,000 cheque to Mr Buffett and also the cheque for the interest. 

Just then a nurse from the nearby mental institution ran over... "Hey, thats our Mr. Sanford. Mr. Sanford, why do you keep running off just before your bath time ? " " Hey.. Young Man, I hope Mr Sanford has not been bugging you and pretending to be Warren Buffett has he ? Its a mess you know... he writes bogus cheques to people who he just met... and he has no money ! "

      The Young Man was dumbfounded.

      Reflect on this.

      Seize the Day