Are You Holding Back? A Story About Taking the Leap and Realizing Your Potential

Hi, I wanted to share a story with you all. There's a lot to learn from it if you choose to.

A man bought two beautiful birds and asked his gardener to train them. After a month, the gardener noticed that while one of the birds soared freely into the expanses of the sky, the other remained rooted to a tree branch. The gardener tried everything to get the bird to fly. He tried convincing the bird, luring it with food. He even made mock threats, but the bird still hung on firmly to the branch, refusing to budge.

A few days later, the owner arrived to see both birds flying high in the sky. He was puzzled. "Wasn't that the bird that wouldn't fly? How did you make it fly?" he asked, pointing at the bird.

The gardener smiled. "It had no choice. I cut the branch where the bird was sitting."

We are all made to fly—to realize our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of doing that, we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. Let's take a leap of faith, take to the skies and make it a great week ahead.

Hope you like this, please share your views so that I can post more if you like it.

Regards, PeeGee

People always build comfort zones just like the bird in this story, and they will never come out of it until the situation demands. There is a lot of meaning in this story; try to step out of your comfort zone, always work hard, and improve the habit of learning and innovative thought processes. A very short and sweet story. Thanks to p_gajra 

Hey PeeGee, that is really a great story. One has to leave his/her comfort zone to achieve great heights and explore new opportunities.

Thanks,
Sumit Sharma

Thank you, Pawan Gajra. I love your storytelling. I hope you will share more stories that reflect real situations in the workplace like this one. I am happy to learn from your experiences. 

I love the story. I also noticed that the catalyst for soaring into the sky was an external force (gardener), whereas when I sit on my limb (comfort zone), it's up to me to spur myself into action. I wonder how the author would construct an alternative ending that would illustrate how the bird (us) can launch itself out of its comfort zone and into distant horizons of opportunity.

Thank you all, especially Nagarjuna and Nutan. Yes, rightly said, we need to come out of our comfort zones to explore, and we need a gardener who can identify the actual problems within us. I have learned new things from all of you as well. Please see my third contribution, Learning 3.

Regarding Learning

It was very nice to go through. It boosts the morale of many who sit on the branches for long periods. Please keep on sharing.

Regards,
Janardhan Rao

Good story. It is true that unless and until we are compelled by circumstances, we continue to be in a state of comfort. But if we want to achieve higher goals, we must take risks and be ready to discover new opportunities.

I wouldn't say it's very true that we are all in our comfort zone. We need to come out of it, realize our value and our capabilities, but we should not wait for the gardener to come and cut the branch. Here, we are the gardener and we are the bird. We should know how and when to leave the branch.

Thanks,
Amit

Hi, I would just say excellent. I read your 7th learning story and searched for all of them to read. I really admired this one, which conveyed such a big message in a very different manner. It's nice to find such a motivating person online.

Monali