An old man lives with his little grandson. Every day the old man gets up early to read books.

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa, I want to read books as you do. But I always forget what I read. What are the advantages of reading?”

The grandfather didn’t answer him, but said, “Take this little basket to the river and bring me back a basket of water.” The boy did as his grandpa said, but all the water leaked out before he got back home. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to walk faster next time.”

The next time the boy ran faster, but the basket was still empty before he returned home. The boy said, “See, Grandpa, it’s no use!”

“Is it no use?” the old man said. “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and found that the basket was different. It was cleaner, inside and out.

“That’s what happens when you read books. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read them, you will be changed, inside and out.”

Beliefs form a big part of our lives. Successful people have always believed that they can be and will be successful in their lives, such as Michael Phelps. Many of us have seen Michael Phelps win 8 gold medals in a single Olympic Games. That has created a history for himself. Many people have admired his success and the first reaction in their mind will be, “Wow, how I wish I could be like him!” Have you ever wondered what brought him success?

In fact, anyone can achieve what they have wanted to achieve. It is about beliefs. Everyone is a born winner. It is this belief that drives an individual to be successful in his or her own field. All successful individuals have strong beliefs and it is one of the bases for their success. If we start to believe in ourselves, the things that we can achieve will definitely give us a pleasant surprise.

Other than having a strong belief, it is the attitude that drives the individual to create their own history. The devotion towards themselves and the drive must also be present. Imagine having a strong belief in oneself and having a poor attitude towards life. Then how would that individual turn out to be? One’s attitude comprises the drive, the devotion and the desire to achieve his goals. If one has strong beliefs about the goals that he can achieve and he displays good attitudes towards them, it would be no surprise to anyone that he will be able to achieve his goals.

Start believing in yourself and you will achieve your goals and with the right positive attitude, you will definitely be able to create the miracle that you have always dreamt of.

A man was fishing on the bank of a river. A boy came to see him fishing. The man was really good at fishing and he could catch a full basket of fish in a short time. The man saw that the boy was very cute, and he wanted to give him a whole basket of fish. But the boy shook his head. The man was surprised and asked, “Why don’t you want the fish? ”

The boy replied, “I want the fishing rod(竿)in your hands.”

The man asked, “Why do you want the rod? ”

“I will eat up all the fish in the basket soon, but if I have the fishing rod,I can use it to catch a lot of fish by myself.”

Many people will certainly say the boy is very smart...wrong! If he doesn’t know fishing skills. He can’t catch fish without a fishing rod. It’s useless to only have a fishing rod, fishing skills are more important than having a fishing rod.

Many people want to have a “fishing rod” in their life. They are just like the boy, they thought that if they had a fishing rod, they would have fish to eat. Life is full of exciting things, we should try to learn fishing skills instead of having a fishing rod.