My Grandfather's Test

I have not talked about this incident for a long time but a motivational powerpoint slideshow that my colleague showed me today suddenly triggered this childhood memory back to me.

It was during Chinese New Year, and my grandfather was ready to give red packets to all his grandchildren. He showed us a bundle of red packets in his hands.

“Here, take one!”

They were all different, but all large and glittery, except for a really plain and small one. My cousins started to grab at large and glittery red packets. I reached out and took the plain one.

“Hey, how much did grandpa give you?”

We were comparing our red packets in the room. Everyone had two $10 notes, and we started laughing at ourselves for thinking that my grandfather could have put different amounts into the different red packets. He had made us believe that there are different amounts of money in those different packets.

I held on to my red packet tightly. I have often been the quiet one, so I got away without answering when asked how much I had. How could I have told them that I had a $50 note in my red packet?!

“Grandpa, I think you put too much into my red packet,” I innocently went back to him to return the red packet. And he gave a winked and said, “Keep it. You deserve it, because you chose the simplest and were not attracted by the size and glitter of the other red packets.”

There were two simple lessons here.

1) Be satisfied and you will be rewarded.
I was happy enough to just take the plain red packet. I did not need to have the biggest or the most glittery one. I feel that happiness is not defined by what happens to you, but how you perceive what happens to you. e.g. if I strike 4D of $100, I can either be really happy with the returns or frustrated that the amount is so low. And strangely, when a person feels happiness, he or she displays more self confidence, and are able to make more positive decisions that lead to positive outcomes and events.

2) Dare to be different and you will find unexpected returns.
It did not bother me that I was getting something really different from the rest. I am not advocating that one should always be singing a different tune, but rather don't be afraid if you don't have a good voice - just sing out loud, be creative with your voice or do something different. You don't have to pretend to sing along with the choir and feel miserable all the time.