David and Jacob were the best of friends.  They were the same age just about the same height and weight and very talented in the many things.  Each aroused the competitive spirit, in his contemporary.  Whether it is learning, sports, business or social contacts, you can be sure there would be some type of competition, whenever these two got together.

One day David and Jacob were headed for a wedding.  The trip required that they catch the bus, a few blocks from their homes.  They started walking together, talking and laughing and planning for a good time at the festive occasion.  They were just about one block away.  When David said, “There is the bus.  Let’s run!”

They both ran, but when the bus left, only David was a passenger and Jacob stood alone, waiting for the next bus to arrive.

A casual observer might say that David was a faster runner than Jacob, and therefore he caught the bus.  The fact of the matter is he was not at all the better runner than his friend.  The difference between the two was that David was very anxious to attend the wedding and be there on time for the ceremony.  Jacob on the other hand, was a casual friend of the groom and was happy to enjoy the party but was not particularly concerned about being there in time for the start of the actual wedding ceremony.

 The driving force for a person -his motivator so to speak- is desire. The more a person wants to achieve something, the more effort he will put in to succeed in achieving that goal.  In our little story, Jacob did not want to get to the wedding as much as David did, and therefore he missed the bus.

Life is a series of challenges, which require effort to overcome.  When a person wants to succeed at what is good, he or she must develop a true desire for that goal.  Reading about the benefits of a particular trait or the rewards of a particular behavior pattern will give a person a stronger desire, for that positive trait.  Even talking to oneself aloud about the beauty of a certain positive behavior pattern will arouse more desire in the person to behave in that way.  Saying you want something and really wanting it are worlds apart.  Before you can achieve you must convince yourself that you truly want to succeed.

CONSIDER THIS FOR A MINUTE

Better to be beaten than to beat. Sefer Chasidim, 163