Og Mandino said, “every living soul has different talents, different desires, different faculties. Be yourself. Try to be anything else but your genuine self, even if you deceive the entire world, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing… “consider the plants and the animals of the field, how they live. Does a cotton plant bear even one apple? Does a pomegranate tree ever produce and orange? Does a lion attempt to fly?
“Only man, of all living things, foolishly strives to be other than what he was intended to be… “You cannot choose your calling your calling chooses you. You have been blessed with special skills that are yours alone. Use them, whatever they may be, forget about wearing another’s hat. A talented chariot driver can win gold and renown with his skills. Let him pick figs, and he would starve. “No one can take your place. Realize this and be yourself. You have no obligation to succeed. You have only the obligation to be true to yourself. “Do the very best that you can, in the things you do best, and you will know, in thy soul, that you are the greatest success in the world.”
And many times, it takes the eyes of others to point out to us our greatest attributes. The story is told of a man selling pencils on a street corner to earn enough for some food, when all of a sudden a businessman stopped, looked at him, and said, “I don’t see a failure; I see in you a great businessman.” The man looked back, eyes wide open, and responded, “If that’s the man you see, then that’s the man I will be.” Don’t sell yourself short, be the best you, you can be!