The man who wanted a lion tattoo

Once there was a man who went to a tattooist because he had always wanted a tattoo of a lion on his shoulder.

The tattooist started to sketch the tail into the man's back: 'Ouch! What are you doing?' asked the man. 

'I'm doing the lion's tail' replied the tattooist. 

'Well then for goodness sake let's have a lion without a tail!' said the man, wincing in pain.

Next the artist set about on the Lion's whiskers. 'Ouch!' cried the man, 'What's that?' 

'The whiskers!' said the tatooist, getting increasingly irritated. 

'Well let's have a lion without whiskers!' moaned his customer.

The tattooist then set about doing the Lion's back. 'No that hurts too!' shouted the man. 

At this, the tattooist finally lost patience with the man shouting, 'How can you expect to get what you want without a little discomfort?'

- Masnavi Story

How Bad Do You Want It?

There was a high school football team that practiced near a small lake. Across the lake lived Coach Jones, the most successful coach in the history of the state. Coach Jones had accumulated more victories, League Championships and State Championships than any other coach in the state’s history. Coach Jones was now retired.

For years this high school team would come out and practice, and practice very hard. As hard as team the could possibly practice. However, no matter how hard they practiced, they just could not seem to win the “big one”. Every day the retired coach would sit across the lake in his lawn chair and watch them practice.

One day the captain of the team decided he was going to go talk to Coach Jones and ask him what the team was doing wrong; why they couldn’t win the “big one”. So the captain of the team went around the lake and said, “Coach, I know you watch us practice every day. I know that you see how hard we practice. You are an experienced winner! Is there anything that you can tell us that can help us win the Championship?”

Coach Jones put his arm around the player and walked him near the edge of the lake. Suddenly, the coach grabbed the captain, thrust his head into the water, and held him down under the water.

When it appeared that the team captain was about to drown, Coach Jones pulled him up and said, “When you want to win that Championship game as much as you wanted that next breath of air, then that is when you will win it”.

- Unknown