Once upon a time, in ancient city called Lygos—which is the one that eventually became known as Byzantium and then Constantinople—there was a big, but extremely poor family.

There were eight children and the youngest child was six years old.

Every Saturday, Mom and Dad let their little boy go into the bazaar in town all by himself.

They thought he was a big enough boy to do that. Of course, the parents trailed behind, but the boy didn't know.

He went and he saw the beautiful clothes. He saw the exotic, delicious-looking foods. He saw the diamonds and the gemstones, but he couldn’t afford anything.

The boy was poor. He didn’t even have a single coin in his pocket, but he still felt like a big kid just by being at the bazaar and among all the people.

He used to spend around a half-hour there every Saturday. Then he’d go right home.

One weekend, though, he went into town and across the street from the bazaar, he saw about 200 people in a big circle. The boy was so small that he made his way to the front of the circle.

He saw something there he’d never heard about or even imagined. He witnessed a magician who seemed to materialize things out of thin air.

All of a sudden a rabbit appeared.

Poof! Just as suddenly, the rabbit disappeared.

He watched the magician for a few minutes, and toward the end of the show the magician said, “I’m going to show you my best trick.”

So, the magician put his right index finger up in the air. The entire crowd gasped when his right index finger turned a bright, fiery orange.

Then, whatever the magician touched transformed into pure gold.

He touched the ancient pagan temple … pure gold.

He touched a tree branch … pure gold, and he gave it away.

Everybody clapped and everybody left, except the little boy who stood there transfixed.

The magician put away his props and saw the boy, who was still trying to figure out what happened and how. “Boy, do you like my magic?”

“Oh, yes!” said the boy.

“Boy, do you want some gold?”

“Oh, please, yes, yes!”

So the magician put his hand in the air and he swept his fiery orange finger down to the ground and touched a pebble.

He gave the boy the pebble. “Boy, this is pure gold.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you very much, but …”

The magician said, “But what?”

“But I want more.”

“Okay,” said the magician. He then put his finger in the air and touched another long branch.

The branch transformed into pure gold. He gave it to the boy, and the boy said, “Thank you, but …”

The magician roared at him, “What?”

“But I want more.”

“Okay,” said the magician, who then went over to a rock that the boy could roll home and he touched the rock.

It took a while, but the rock eventually became pure gold.

“Boy, roll that home. Your family will have money for years.”

“Thank you so much! Thank you, but …”

The magician roared, “But what?” He was finally getting upset with the boy.

“But I want more!”

“What more can I give you?”

“I want the magic finger!” said the boy.

As always,

Brian

P.S. – Now, when I've told other people a version of this story, more than a few of them inevitably said, “What a greedy little boy.”

No. The boy wasn’t greedy.

He was a genius.

Not having the boy's attitude or outlook is a major mistake that most high school and college students make. Why?

They want the gold. They don’t want the finger.

Remember, the gold is the "A" while the finger is the knowledge.

Don’t focus on the grade and don't think things like, “I have to do this so I can get in that school.”

Focus on the knowledge.

We put together a checklist on how one may "find" more time in the day.

I may have a magic finger, but I can't give that away. Nor can I just give you the time you need.

It's the knowledge. Not the gold.