Have you heard the story about the black dot?

Here it goes:

One day, a professor entered the classroom and announced a surprise test. Hearing this, his students got anxious and started thinking about what would come up in the test. The professor distributed the question paper, with the front side facing down. After handing over the papers to all the students, he asked them to turn the page and start the test. To everyone's surprise, there were no questions on the test paper. There was just a black dot in the centre of the page. Everyone was surprised and looked at the professor in confusion. The professor told the students:

“I want you to write a few lines about what you see on the paper."

All the students were stupefied but since they didn’t have a choice, they started writing the answer. Once everyone was through with the test, the professor collected all the answer sheets and started reading out each answer aloud in front of the whole class. Without an exception, all the students had written about the black dot, mentioning its position, size, and so on. After reading out all the answers, the professor addressed the students and told them:

“None of you will be graded on this test. I just wanted you to ponder over something. All of you wrote about the black dot. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. The same thing happens in our lives, too. We all have a white paper to observe and learn from, yet we always focus on the dark spots. We have so many reasons to celebrate – our parents, friends, good health, a satisfactory job, a child’s smile, the miracles we witness every day, and so on.

However, we simply limit our horizons by focusing on just the dark spots – our disappointments, our frustrations, our fears and anxieties, things that bother us, people that wronged us. In our day-to-day lives, we tend to take so many good things for granted, and focus our energy on insignificant dot-like failures and disappointments.”

Positivity is a major theme in our business for 2021. If you get caught in the media, doom and gloom can quickly take over. There are so many inspiring stories around. All you need to do is look on the bright side!

The team at Your Wealth Hub Advice would like to wish you an inspiring and positive February!

Gavin Glozier, AdvFP
CEO & Principal Financial Adviser
P 1300 763 498 • M 0408 155 140
Level 33, 264 George St NSW, Australia
Life the life you want to live.