“Time to get up for school, Daniel.”
I could already feel the sweat soaking through my pajamas.
Are they going to hit me today?
What if they’re waiting for me...
Where should I hide at lunch...
That’s what it was like every single morning before school.
You just didn’t know where or when you were going to get attacked.
It was so unpredictable.
Now, also at that time, because I didn’t really understand English, my mom bought me this little English computer dictionary.
And if I remember correctly, this thing cost quite a few hundred bucks…
Money we didn’t have.
But my mom bought it for me. Because she’s like that. She always makes sacrifices for me...
Anyways, I was so happy with my little computer.
I would take this little computer to school and write out all the words I didn’t know.
And it was amazing. I loved it. It was so useful.
And it helped me finally start learning English.
But when the other kids saw it…
They didn’t like it at all.
They started to TRASH me. I still remember their faces.
“What is this stupid fancy computer?”
“You can’t afford stuff like this!”
“You think you’re so cool bringing all these electronics to school...”
I couldn’t really understand what they were saying.
But it didn’t matter.
Because before I was able to say or do anything, this one damn kid grabbed it.
And ran around with it mocking me...
And I was desperately chasing him.
“Give it back! Please, give it back!”
*SMASH*
Too late.
The damn kid had thrown it out the window of the second story.
And by the time I got it back, it was smashed and broken.
It didn’t work anymore.
Tears in my eyes. I thought.
“Oh no… What am I going to tell mom?”
I knew how hard my mom had worked to get me this gift.
And I just couldn’t break her heart like that.
So do you know what I decided to do?
I decided to not tell her.
That’s right, I kept it a secret.
And I decided that the only way I could make things right would be by learning English.
So that’s what I did.
I acted like it was still working, but I was actually using one of those big paper dictionaries.
I would flip through it, highlight it, and write down each word I didn’t know 100 times.
Then I would practice, pronounce and spell those words again and again.
And just like that, I would memorize 5 - 10 words EVERY day.
So here’s what I want you to take away from this story.
It doesn’t matter what you have. It matters who you are.
You can have all the resources in the world…
But without persistence, and without determination - it all means nothing.
Sure it’s easier to learn English with the computer dictionary - but I didn’t really need it to learn English.
I could have said.
“Oh well, now it’s broken - I can’t learn English.”
I didn’t let what I have stop me from becoming who I want to be.
Yes, even though when I look back, it makes me feel angry.
At the end of the day, it shaped who I am today.
And there was something good that came out of it.
Because from the kid who couldn’t speak a word of English, I’ve now written 13 books - all in English.
And from the poor background where we couldn’t even afford a little computer…
I could probably buy a ton of them if I wanted to.
So don’t let your current circumstances dictate your future.
You go out there and look for the circumstances you like.
And if you don’t find them - make them.
Now, sure they were able to take away my computer, but what they couldn’t take away from me was my English.
They couldn’t stop me from learning and improving my skills.
And it’s the same in business. You can lose an employee, a deal, or even your company. But what no one can take away from you is your skills - and what you know.
So if you haven’t yet started developing a High-Income Skill, I’ve created a free quiz that’ll help you discover the one High Income Skill you were born to do.
If you want to know the high income skill you were born to do, put the codeword “quiz” below and I’ll send you the free quiz.
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