‘Two men looked out from the prison bars,
One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.’
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade is a proverbial phrase used to encourage optimism and a positive can-do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune.
Lemons suggest sourness or difficulty in life; making lemonade is turning them into something positive or desirable.
In a deserted, desolate, lonely place an international brand of shoes opened their marketing, sales and distribution center. They hired a salesman with handsome salary and generous perks to start selling and asked him to report progress after one month. When the month came to an end, the salesman returned with a long face, disappointment written all over it! He said to the big boss that his company has made a serious mistake by opening up an office in that region. As nobody wore shoes there, it would be better if the company packs up from here and relocate itself elsewhere to find customers ready for new shoes! You know what did the company do. The company asked him to leave immediately and hired another salesman with same salary and perks and same instructions to return after a month with sales performance report.
The new salesman did exactly as he was instructed, and returned after a month with a beaming face and yelled joyously “Boss, you have opened your shop in the best possible place; nobody wears shoes here and we can make everyone one wear and consequently take 100% market share”.
This is the difference between the two salesmen. One saw the mud and the other the stars when both looked out from the proverbial prison bars. One moaned and groaned when handed over a lemon and the other turned it into lemonade.
What you know is your aptitude which is very important! But what is many, many times more important is attitude. It determines your altitude in life. Two equally good, great, outstanding, highly educated cricketers heralded their arrival on the landscape of world’s cricket in 1971. One ended up in oblivion, despite political aspirations. The other became unarguably the only cricketer to become the Prime Minister of one of the most populous countries in the world. Just because both possessed vastly different attitudes & mindsets. In adversity one saw the mud and the other stars. In the picture one is shaking hands with the queen and the other one stands next to him. Guess who?
