Story that is interesting and motivational

23 Best Inspirational Short
Stories with a Motivating
Moral
1. Three Feet From Gold
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The Story:
During the gold rush, a man who
had been mining in Colorado for
several months quit his job, as he
hadn’t struck gold yet and the
work was becoming tiresome. He
sold his equipment to another
man who resumed mining where
it had been left off.
The new miner was advised by
his engineer that there was gold
only three feet away from where
the first miner stopped digging.
The engineer was right, which
means the first miner was a mere
three feet away from striking gold
before he quit.
The Moral:
When things start to get hard, try
to persevere through the
adversity.
Many people give up on following
their dreams because the work
becomes too difficult, tedious, or
tiresome–but often, you’re closer
to the finish line than you may
think, and if you push just a little
harder, you will succeed.
2. Rocks, Pebbles, and Sand
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The Story:
A philosophy professor once
stood up before his class with a
large empty mayonnaise jar. He
filled the jar to the top with large
rocks and asked his students if
the jar was full.
His students all agreed the jar
was full .
He then added small pebbles to
the jar, and gave the jar a bit of a
shake so the pebbles could
disperse themselves among the
larger rocks. Then he asked
again, “Is the jar full now?”
The students agreed that the jar
was still full.
The professor then poured sand
into the jar to fill up all the
remaining empty space.
The students then agreed again
that the jar was full .
The Metaphor:
In this story, the jar represents
your life and the rocks, pebbles,
and sand are the things that fill
up your life .
The rocks represent the most
important projects and things you
have going on, such as spending
time with your family and
maintaining proper health. This
means that if the pebbles and the
sand were lost, the jar would still
be full and your life would still
have meaning .
The pebbles represent the things
in your life that matter, but that
you could live without.
The pebbles are certainly things
that give your life meaning (such
as your job, house, hobbies, and
friendships), but they are not
critical for you to have a
meaningful life.
These things often come and go,
and are not permanent or
essential to your overall well-
being.
Finally, the sand represents the
remaining filler things in your life,
and material possessions. This
could be small things such as
watching television , browsing
through your favorite social media
site, or running errands.
These things don't mean much to
your life as a whole, and are
likely only done to waste time or
get small tasks accomplished.
The Moral:
The metaphor here is that if you
start with putting sand into the
jar, you will not have room for
rocks or pebbles.
This holds true with the things
you let into your life. If you spend
all of your time on the small and
insignificant things, you will run
out of room for the things that are
actually important.
In order to have a more effective
and efficient life, pay attention to
the “rocks,” because they are
critical to your long-term well-
being .
3. The Elephant Rope
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The Story:
When walking through an
elephant camp, a man noticed
that the elephants were only
secured with a small rope that
was tied around one ankle. He
wondered why the elephants
didn’t break free from the rope, as
the elephants were certainly
strong enough to do so.
He asked a trainer why the
elephants didn’t try to break free,
and the trainer responded by
saying that they use the same
size rope for baby elephants all
the way up to adulthood. Because
they’re too small when they’re
babies to break free from the
rope, they grow up being
conditioned that the rope is
stronger than they are . As adults,
they think the rope can still hold
them, so they don’t try to fight it.
The Moral:
The elephants in this case are
experiencing learned
helplessness. This phenomenon
occurs when someone has been
conditioned to anticipate
discomfort in some way without
having a way to avoid it or make it
stop.
After enough conditioning, the
person will stop any attempts to
avoid the pain, even if they see
an opportunity to escape.
If you go through life thinking that
you can’t do something just
because you have failed at doing
it in the past, you’re living with a
fixed mindset .
You have to let go of your
limiting beliefs in order to make
the breakthroughs that are
required for your ultimate
success.
Don’t let other people tell you that
you can’t do something, and don’t
hold onto an assumption that you
can’t grow and learn from past
failures.
4. A Wise Man’s Jokes
The Story:
A wise man once faced a group of
people who were complaining
about the same issues over and
over again. One day, instead of
listening to the complaints, he
told them a joke and everyone
cracked up laughing.
Then, the man repeated the joke.
A few people smiled.
Finally, the man repeated the joke
a third time– but no one reacted .
The man smiled and said, “You
won’t laugh at the same joke
more than once. So what are you
getting from continuing to
complain about the same
problem?”
The Moral:
You’re not going to get anywhere
if you keep complaining about the
same problem but do nothing to
fix it.
Don’t waste your time
complaining, expecting other
people to continue to react to your
complaints. Instead, take action
to make a change.
5. It’s Never Too Late
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The Story:
In the 1940s, there was a man
who, at the age of 65, was living
off of $99 social security checks
in a small house, driving a beat-
up car.
He decided it was time to make a
change , so he thought about what
he had to offer that other people
may benefit from. His mind went
to his fried chicken recipe, which
his friends and family loved.
He left his home state of
Kentucky and traveled throughout
the country, trying to sell his
recipe to restaurants. He even
offered the recipe for free, asking
for only a small chunk of the
money that was earned.
However, most of the restaurants
declined his offer. In fact, 1,009
restaurants said no .
But even after all of the
rejections, he persisted. He
believed in himself and his
chicken recipe.
When he visited restaurant
#1,010, he got a YES.
His name?
Colonel Hartland Sanders.