For a variety reasons ranging from talent, education, luck, parentage, health, individual capacity, timing and opportunity, people have different levels of money making potential. This concept, something we all see as part of day-to-day life, is illustrated in “The Parable of the Knights’ Contest.” With that in mind, let’s now take a closer look at the parable as a means to better understand the reasons behind people’s differing levels of income potential and what that means to you in terms of your own prospects for you to achieve financial success.
The Strong Knight: Opportunity Combined With Hard Work & Persistence
First consider the strong knight. He was someone who was born with a capacity for great strength, but that was just the beginning. From a young age he built on his physical advantages, and through discipline, personal sacrifice and many hours of training and hard work, he became the most physically powerful knight in the entire kingdom.
The strong knight can be compared to someone who makes a lot of money because they worked hard to take advantage of their opportunities. For example, the strong knight would be representative of a young man or woman that started out in life with the advantage of a good mind and affluent parents who were actively involved in their education. But things didn’t stop there; as the young man or woman grew up they seized on the advantages that they had, and through their efforts they were eventually accepted to a prestigious university, earned an advanced degree and secured a high paying job. Thus, financially speaking, they developed into a strong knight.
The Swift Knight: God-given Talent and Unearned Privileges
Now consider the swift knight. He was born with the God-given gift of exceptional speed. And while he had avoided obvious unwise choices in life that would have endangered his special talent (such as taking foolish risks or abusing his body with drugs and alcohol), he had been lucky as well (e.g. he hadn’t suffered a serious injury). It’s also significant that this particular knight hadn’t worked terribly hard to become fastest knight in the kingdom. While it’s true that he did the standard workouts that all knights must do, he really did nothing beyond that. Yet despite the fact that he only put forth an average amount of effort, neither the strong knight nor the average knight could come anywhere close to matching the swift knight’s breathtaking speed. The simple fact was that he had a gift; he knew it, and everyone else knew it, and that’s the way it was.
The swift knight can be compared to someone who has an advantage that’s practically impossible to replicate through study, hard work, or anything else. Consider artistic talent. You could decide to drop everything and dedicate the rest of your life to painting, yet there would always be someone who was so talented that with minimal practice, training and effort, they could still paint better than you. That’s just the way it is – some people have simply “got it.”
Artistic ability has to do with talent. As far as financial matters are concerned there is an even better example of a “swift knight.” To illustrate, consider someone who was born very average in terms of intelligence, height, weight, looks, etc. That would mean that their financial outlook would be…average, right? But what if I also told you that this person’s parents were mega wealthy and that they stood to inherit $100,000,000 when they came of age? Suddenly, with no effort their part, this “average person” would instantly have access to more money than most highly skilled professionals could accumulate by working hard their entire lives. Is that fair? Whether it is or not doesn’t matter because, in certain cases, that’s just the way it is.
Reach Financial Success As An “Average Knight” Through Effective Money Management
And what about you? What if you’re just an “average knight” (or a “regular person”) in terms of your money making potential? Are you doomed to failure and mediocrity? Absolutely not! As the parable illustrates, the race doesn’t always go to the swift or the strong. What set the average knight apart wasn’t his ability to pour water at an unusually high rate, but the fact that not a singe drop of it was wasted. In other words, the average knight can be compared to someone who might only make a modest amount of money, yet they manage the money that they do have extremely well, putting every bit of it to good use.
In conclusion, I want to make it clear that I’m not discounting the importance of making money. Making money is an essential part of achieving financial security, so make as much money as you reasonably can in an honest, balanced way. But what I also want you to impress upon you is the principle illustrated in the parable, that there is a lot more to achieving financial security than just making money. It also takes savvy and effective money management, which involves knowledge and planning followed by steady, consistent, and thoughtfully applied effort. Achieve financial success by managing your money effectively – that is where you get your edge, that is how you win the prize, and that is what this website is all about!
