Inspirational stories move past creating a sense of connection, allowing listeners to identify with the story wherever they are in their own lives, making them more receptive to learning. Some of the best stories contain many different concepts or lessons, and they are effective in explaining complicated ideas in easy-to-understand ways.
Here are 7 motivational short stories inspiring life lessons:
1. The Man Who Quit Too Soon A miner in Colorado quit his job during the gold rush, selling his equipment to another miner who struck gold just three feet away. This story teaches us to persevere through adversity and not give up on our goals, as we may be closer to success than we think.
2. The Jar of Rocks, Pebbles, and Sand A philosophy professor uses a jar to illustrate the importance of prioritizing life’s “rocks” (essential goals) over “pebbles” (nice-to-have goals) and “sand” (trivial pursuits). This story emphasizes the need to focus on what truly matters in life.
3. The Elephant’s Rope A trainer explains that elephants are conditioned to believe a small rope can hold them back, even though they could easily break free. This story illustrates the concept of learned helplessness and the importance of overcoming limiting beliefs to achieve success.
4. The Complainer’s Joke A wise man tells a joke to a group of complainers, only to have them laugh initially but not repeat the joke later. This story teaches us to take action to solve problems rather than just complaining about them.
5. The Fried Chicken Man A 65-year-old man, rejected by 1,009 restaurants, persisted in selling his fried chicken recipe until he finally found success. This story demonstrates the importance of perseverance, believing in oneself, and never giving up on one’s passions.
6. The Mother Camel’s Wisdom A mother camel explains to her baby camel why they have humps, teaching the importance of storing water for survival in the desert. This story illustrates the value of wisdom, responsibility, and preparedness in life.
7. The Lumberjacks’ Lesson Two competing wolves represent the importance of working smart as well as hard, emphasizing the need to balance effort and strategy to achieve success. This story teaches us to adapt and adjust our approach to overcome challenges.
These 7 motivational short stories offer valuable life lessons, including perseverance, prioritization, overcoming limiting beliefs, taking action, believing in oneself, wisdom, and adaptability.
Short Stories Inspiring Life lessons
1. Sweet Dreams
The Story:
A young boy and girl were enjoying a pleasant afternoon playing outside in their neighborhood together. The boy showed the girl his collection of beautiful, unique marbles. In turn, the girl showed the boy the handful of candy that she had just gotten for her birthday.
You have to be a participating factor in your relationship if you want it to be built on trust.
The boy proposed that the two of them switch–he would give her all of his marbles if she handed over all of her candy. The girl agreed, as she found the marbles to be beautiful as well.
The boy handed over all of his marbles, but kept one–the most exquisite one of them all–in his pocket. The girl kept her promise and gave the boy all of her candy.
That night, the girl was happy with the exchange and peacefully went to sleep.
The boy, however, couldn’t sleep, as he was up wondering if the girl had secretly kept some of her candy, just like he did with the marble.
The Moral:
If you don’t give 100% in your relationships, you will always assume your partner isn’t giving 100% either. If you want your relationships to be built on trust, you have to be a participating factor in that.
Honesty grows your character. By being honest in relationships, you’re holding your partner accountable to do the same. It allows both you and your partner to continuously think about your choices and how you can help (or hurt) your partner and your relationship.
2. What a Waste
The Story:
A mother camel and her baby were lying down, soaking up the sun. The baby camel asked his mom, “Why do we have these big bumps on our back?”
The mom stopped to think and then said, “We live in the desert where there is not much water available. Our humps store water to help us survive on long journeys. “
The baby camel then stopped to think and said, “Well, why do we have long legs with rounded feet?”
His mother replied, “They are meant to help us walk through sand.”
The baby asked a third question, “Why are my eyelashes so long?”
The mother replied, “Your long eyelashes offer you protection from sand when it blows in the wind.”
Finally, the baby said, “If we have all of these natural abilities given to us to walk through the desert, what’s the use for camels in the Zoo?”
The Moral:
The skills and abilities that you possess won’t be useful if you’re not in the right environment.
You’ve probably heard of a professional who ditched his or her career to follow their dreams–or the person who remains unfulfilled in their job, but doesn’t try to make a change.
3. Dirty Money
The Story:
A well-respected speaker began a seminar by showing an audience of 150 people a crisp $20 bill. He asked, “Who wants this $20 bill?”
All 150 people nodded.
He said, “I am going to give this money to someone, but first….” Then he proceeded to crumple the bill up.
He asked the crowd again if anyone wanted it.
All 150 hands went up in the air.
The speaker then dropped the money on the floor and stomped all over it.
He then raised it in the air to show the crowd. The money was filthy.
“Does anyone want it now?”
Every hand went up.
The speaker proceeded to tell the crowd that no matter what he did to ruin the money, people still wanted it because its value remained the same. It was still worth $20.
The Moral:
Life often beats us up to the point where we feel inadequate. We deal with bad circumstances and make bad choices that we have to deal with later. However, no matter what you go through, your value will remain the same. You have something special to offer that no one can take away from you.
4. It’s Never Too Late
The Story:
In the 1940s, there was a man who, at the age of 65, was living off of $99 social security checks in a small house, driving a beat-up car.
He decided it was time to make a change, so he thought about what he had to offer that other people may benefit from. His mind went to his fried chicken recipe, which his friends and family loved.
He left his home state of Kentucky and traveled throughout the country, trying to sell his recipe to restaurants. He even offered the recipe for free, asking for only a small chunk of the money that was earned.
However, most of the restaurants declined his offer. In fact, 1,009 restaurants said no.
But even after all of the rejections, he persisted. He believed in himself and his chicken recipe.
When he visited restaurant #1,010, he got a YES.
His name? Colonel Hartland Sanders.
The Moral:
There are a few lessons that you can take away from this story. First, it’s never too late in life to find success. In a society that often celebrates young, successful people, it’s easy to start to think you’re never going to be successful after a certain age. However, Colonel Sanders is an example that proves that argument wrong.
5. The Elephant Rope
The Story:
When walking through an elephant camp, a man noticed that the elephants were only secured with a small rope that was tied around one ankle. He wondered why the elephants didn’t break free from the rope, as the elephants were certainly strong enough to do so.
He asked a trainer why the elephants didn’t try to break free, and the trainer responded by saying that they use the same size rope for baby elephants all the way up to adulthood. Because they’re too small when they’re babies to break free from the rope, they grow up being conditioned that the rope is stronger than they are. As adults, they think the rope can still hold them, so they don’t try to fight it.
The Moral:
The elephants in this case are experiencing learned helplessness. This phenomenon occurs when someone has been conditioned to anticipate discomfort in some way without having a way to avoid it or make it stop. After enough conditioning, the person will stop any attempts to avoid the pain, even if they see an opportunity to escape.
6. Three Feet From Gold
The Story:
During the gold rush, a man who had been mining in Colorado for several months quit his job, as he hadn’t struck gold yet and the work was becoming tiresome. He sold his equipment to another man who resumed mining where it had been left off. The new miner was advised by his engineer that there was gold only three feet away from where the first miner stopped digging.
The engineer was right, which means the first miner was a mere three feet away from striking gold before he quit.
The Moral:
When things start to get hard, try to persevere through the adversity. Many people give up on following their dreams because the work becomes too difficult, tedious, or tiresome–but often, you’re closer to the finish line than you may think, and if you push just a little harder, you will succeed.
7. Teamwork
The Story:
There was once a man who lived with his three sons. His sons were hard workers, but they constantly fought with each other. Even though the man continuously tried to help his sons make peace with each other, he was never successful. In fact, their fighting got to a point where their neighbors would make fun of them.
Eventually, the father became ill. He begged his sons to learn how to work together because of his impending death, but they didn’t listen. The father then decided to teach his sons a practical lesson to help his sons forget their differences and become a united team.
The father called his sons and said, “I’ll give you each an equal collection of sticks to break in half. Whoever breaks the sticks the fastest will be rewarded.”
After agreeing to the task, the father gave each of his sons 10 sticks and instructed them to break each stick in half. This task took the sons mere minutes to complete, but once they were finished, they started to fight about who finished first.
The father said, “Dear sons, the task isn’t finished. Now I’ll give each of you 10 more sticks, however, you must break the sticks in half as a bundle rather than snapping each one separately.”
His sons agreed and attempted to do what he had asked. They each tried their best, but none could break the bundle in half. They told their father that they had failed.
In response, their father said, “See, it was easy to break the sticks in half individually, but you couldn’t break all 10 of them at the same time. Similarly, if the three of you stay united as a team, nobody will be able to harm you. However, if you fight all the time, anyone will be able to defeat you. Please come together as a united team.”
This lesson helped the man’s sons understand the power of being a team and promised their father that, moving forward, they would work together as a team, no matter what the situation was.
The Moral:
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Strong teams are naturally aligned to work harder, support each other, and be cooperative with working toward a mutual goal.
Being an effective member of a team helps contribute to the overall moral and motivation of the team. Strong teams are naturally aligned to work harder, support each other, and be cooperative with working toward a mutual goal. Individuals each have diverse talents, strengths, and weaknesses to contribute to teamwork, so staying focused on the task at hand rather than allowing personal disputes to get in the way will help you achieve your desired results.