Three Lines to Success

At Punjab University, a professor used to drink tea every day from the same small stall. The stall was run by a young boy named Jahangir.

One day, Jahangir asked the professor,
“Sir, can I ever be a successful man in life?”

The professor smiled and replied,
“Every person in this world has the ability to be successful.”

Jahangir was curious. “But how?” he asked.

The professor took out a piece of chalk and drew three lines on the wall of the stall. On the first line, he wrote: “Hard work, hard work, hard work.”
On the second line, he wrote: “Honesty, honesty, honesty.”
On the third line, he wrote just one word: “Skill.”

Then he turned to Jahangir and explained:

**“Success has three steps. The first is hard work. No matter who you are or where you work—a store, a factory, an office, or even a tea stall—if you work hard, you will succeed. Your workplace should be the first to open and the last to close.

Most people, almost 90 percent, do not work hard. If you put in real effort, you will rise above them and join the 10 percent who have the chance to succeed.”**

The professor continued:

**“The second step is honesty. Honesty means four things:

  1. Keep your promises.

  2. Never lie.

  3. Always mean what you say.

  4. Admit your mistakes and learn from them.

In business, honesty gives you 50 percent of your success. Hard work adds 30 percent. That’s already 80 percent. The remaining 20 percent comes from skills.

Skills are important, but they only help after you already have hard work and honesty. Skills alone cannot give you success. That is why you must first work hard and live every moment with honesty. Then your skills will take you to the sky.”**

The professor ended by saying:
“This world is full of skilled people who are homeless. But it also has unskilled people who own private jets. Success starts with hard work and honesty.”

Years later, Jahangir shared his story:

“I made those three chalk lines my religion. Today I am 45 years old, and I am a millionaire. The same wall from my tea stall, with those three lines, is now in my office. I often look at it and remember the professor with gratitude.”

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