 When I was around age 18, I bought a book titled An Enemy Called Average. This book was written by John L. Mason, and it's one of the simplest books I ever read. For me as at the time, reading was just the best thing in the world. I simply loved to read and learn, to improve my mind. But there's something unexpected waiting for me at the corner of this simple book, and that's happened to change my life forever, and I hope as I share this same secret with you in this video, it will change the way you see the world, and you'll never be the same again. If you're new here, consider subscribing so that you won't miss other interesting videos like this. The Chinese Bamboo Tree According to the legends, there's a bamboo tree in China. Like any plant, the Chinese bamboo tree is planted, and the growth of the Chinese bamboo tree requires nurturing water, fertile soil, and sunshine. But unlike any other plant, one year after planting the Chinese bamboo tree, we see no visible signs of activity. In the second year again, no growth above the soil. By the third and fourth year, still nothing much to appreciate compared to the caring, watering, and nurturing it has been given. And finally, in the fifth year, behold, a miracle. We experience growth. And what growth is it? The Chinese bamboo tree grows 80 feet in just six weeks. Yes, 80 feet in just six weeks. Hold your breath and think about this. Imagine you want to plant the Chinese bamboo tree. You'll spend the first year to care water and nurture, but nothing will happen. You'll spend the second year and yet no reward for your labor. By the third year, everyone already thinks that you're wasting your time, and by the fourth year, all your neighbors already conclude that you're a fool. The fifth year comes and, boom, your tree grows 80 feet in less than two months. The story of the Chinese bamboo tree is the story I read in The Enemy Called Average, and that story changed my life. You see, the process of getting rid of successful is the same process of planting and nuttering the Chinese bamboo tree. When you first plant your vision to be rich, everyone will think you're crazy, and they're usually very correct because only crazy people can do what it takes to be successful. I'll explain that with a personal story. My personal story. You see, right from the very first day, when I announced to my family members that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I've been told that I can't succeed, but they still had some level of doubt. Who knows, maybe he has some magic wand we don't know of. A year passed without any success for me, two years and three years passed, and by then, the doubting promises of my family had become the convinced Judas. By the third year in the business, those who think that I could not succeed now have certainty that I cannot succeed. If you've been in my shoes before, you know what it means to have almost no one in the world to call you friend. But that was just the middle of the road for me. I spent the fourth year and fifth year. Everywhere I went, I met people who thought I wasn't using my brain. They believed that if I was using my brain, I would go and get some job instead of trying to build a company. But the story of the Chinese bamboo tree and other inspirations kept me going. I kept on believing in myself and never stopped trying. One day, after about eight years of failing in the business world, I had my first breakthrough. A year after then, I had my second breakthrough and my third breakthrough followed. Then, just like the Chinese bamboo tree, I grew so fast that everyone started thinking that I am lucky. Listen, I do not make this video to teach you anything. If I want to achieve anything with this video, it will be to inspire you. When you wake up every morning, remember the story of the Chinese bamboo tree. If you don't have any dream of vision by the time you're watching this video, go and get some crazy dreams. And let me warn you, immediately after you get some dreams, the next team you'll get will be some enemies. Don't expect these enemies to be from people who hate you. The people close to you are going to be the very first people to tell you how stupid you are. This may be your parents, your good friends, or your spouse. Now, you can see that these people are not your enemies for sure. They are simply not getting it. They love you and they want you to live a normal life. For instance, my mother is the greatest human God has ever created. She loved me more than anything in this world. But when I failed in the business world for a few years, she started getting worried and advised me to get some job. Don't get me wrong, jobs are not bad things and getting a job isn't a crime. But what my family wanted me to do was to live like everyone else in the world. Get a job, work your way to the top of the corporate ladder, and fight for a raise for 35 years, even if you hate every minute of it. You have to understand that your family members and friends love you and want you to be saved. That's where the problem lies. Forget safety. Now, listen to me. You don't need safety, you need success. Safety is nothing as you will eventually lose it in the face of death. If you've got a dream, then you have to be willing to fight for that dream. I've told you the first thing that will happen to you and that is, everyone will think that you're crazy. The next thing that will happen to you is that situations will prove that you are truly crazy. Let me tell you how it happens. When you set out to achieve a dream, you will be excited. And it's this excitement that will push you to tell your dreams to everyone. Because you tell your dreams to people, they will tell you how crazy you are. But because you're very excited, you won't listen to them. Then you'll set out to try and achieve your dream. And the next thing that will happen is, you get it. Failure. You'll fail and fail and fail again. Then your critics will look at your face and then, they will see the face of a truly stupid individual. The next thing that will happen is that after so many failures, you will also start thinking that you're crazy. This is the time when the devil wins the battle over most people. By the time you start thinking that you're truly stupid, then you're likely to start considering the advice other people have given to you in the past. Unfortunately, everyone who has ever achieved any significant success gets to this point. The point when you start seeing how stupid you were to have tried to achieve what most people can't. The secret of the winners. The best way I can teach you anything is to tell you my story. So pardon me as I tell you how I handle the toughest period of my entrepreneurial journey. You see, it's nothing when you're excited about your dreams and everybody in the world says you're stupid. You can still go ahead after several failures, as long as you'll still have some faith in your journey. The toughest period, however, is at the time when you start losing faith in yourself. And what will happen to you? By the time you start thinking that you're truly foolish as everyone has said, then you have nothing left for you. So, what is the way out of this hellfire? What I did was to wake up every day to read. I read stories of people who have gone through the hell I was going through and the more I read those stories, the more I understood that what I was going through was just normal. So, I would stand up and fight again, just because I have gotten some inspiration to fuel my struggle. It's easier these days because you don't have to read. You can wake up every morning to inspirational audio or videos. And in fact, it's for this purpose we started a new channel. We call it Inspirational Tube, and it was designed to give you the daily inspiration that will keep you strong as you try to achieve your audacious goals. Don't forget the story of the Chinese bamboo tree. Look at the description box of this video and join Inspiration Tube. We love you.