1. There is an old man that loves a peaceful environment where he lives, but the kids nearby come around all the time to play and that annoyed him. One day, he called the kids over and said "it's quiet around here, thanks for making it lively, I would like you to do this everyday!"

He then proceeded to "pay" them 3 sweets each. He did this for a couple of days before reducing the number of sweets to 2 sweets each, then 1. Eventually, he stopped giving them sweets. The children got mad and said "since you're not giving us anymore sweets, we're never playing here again!" The old man got his peace.

(Find out what makes people tick and you'll get your way.)

2. Two cows were pulling a cart each. One cow moved fast while the other took its time. So, the farmer moved all the goods from the slow cart to the faster cart. The slow cow chuckled and said "hah! Working hard gets you more work!".

Later that night, the farmer thought "if one cow can do the job, why do I need two?" Thus, the lazy cow was butchered and eaten.

(In your job, doing less work than your coworkers might still get you the same pay, but you'll be the first one up for termination too.)

3. There were two noodle stalls in the market, both sell similar noodles next to each other. After several years, noodle stall A's owner managed to save up enough for a storefront while noodle stall B's owner just have enough to continue living. 

Turns out, noodle stall B serves its noodles right out of the pot and was too hot for customers looking for a quick meal, while noodle stall A took the effort of dipping the noodles in cold water for a few seconds before serving.

(Make the effort to help your customers save THEIR time, and you'll get more business.)

4. A monk saw a scorpion fall into a puddle and decided to save it. He reached out and the scorpion tried to sting him. He reached out again, and the scorpion tried to sting him again. A passerby asked the monk, "why do you try to save it when it keeps trying to sting you?"

The monk replied, "stinging is the scorpion's nature, being kind is my nature. I sure can't let the scorpions nature change mine, right?"

(Sometimes, we allow too much of the world to change too much of who we are.)

5. Someone asked the farmer, "have you planted the wheat?". 

He replied, "no, I was worried it might not rain."

They then asked the farmer, "have you planted the cotton?"

He replied, "no, I was worried the insects might eat them."

Finally, they asked, "then what have you planted?"

He replied, "nothing, I'm waiting for the right time."

The farmer eventually starved himself to death.

(People who don't put in effort and don't take any risks at all will never be successful.)

6. Three people came out of the same building and a cloudy day, one brought an umbrella, one wore a plastic raincoat, and the third had nothing. Heavy rain poured throughout the day. When the 3 came back to the building, the one that had the umbrella was hurt, the one with the raincoat was drenched, and the third was all fine.

Turns out, the one with the umbrella hit something and fell down because the umbrella was blocking his view. The one with the plastic raincoat wore it too early, and threw it away before it rained as he was sweating. The third guy that didn't bring anything just managed to stay indoors and carefully walked back under the shades.

(Sometimes it's not about the things you have, it's about what you do with the things you don't have.)

Hopefully these 6 stories have inspired you to think differently!