The Old Man on the Mountain

Regardless of what you want in life, there's one universal way to make sure you get it. Learn the secret.

I first heard a variation of this story from my father when I was young. I’m not sure about its origins. I suspect some little excerpt in a Reader’s Digest. Nevertheless, the lessons of the story have stuck with me ever since. I’m grateful to whoever wrote it and to my father for teaching it to me. Perhaps you’ve heard this story in one way or another. Its lesson remains a cornerstone of how I look at my own effort and its effect on my position in life. I hope it offers you the same.

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There was a young man who wanted to know how to achieve his dreams. He asked every successful person he could for advice. They all told him the same thing:

“If you want to know how to achieve your dreams, go talk to the old man on the mountain. He’ll teach you everything you need to know.”

He found it odd that so many people referenced the same simple advice, and determined that this old man must be very wise and full of incredible wisdom to share.

So, he embarks on the journey to find the old man. It was not easy. The mountain was far away, and was known to be a difficult environment. Still, after days of travel, hiking over dangerous terrain and sharp boulders, asking others for directions, and stopping to catch his breath, he arrived at a small shack on the mountain. He prepared to ask the inhabitant about this wise, great man on the mountain and where he might find him. As he walked in the small, crooked doorway, he was shocked to see an old man who exactly fit the description of the wise man in the mountain. “This can’t be the right place,” he thought.

After recovering his wits, the young man asked, “Are you the great teacher so many have told me about?” The man did not answer. Yet, the old man deliberately kept strong eye contact, and appeared resolute in his demeanor. The old man got up slowly, and walked past the young man in the doorway, stepping out onto the mountain. He began to walk down a pathway toward a small river valley. The young man, confused, followed behind the old man. He spoke again. “I feel like you’re the man I’ve been told to meet. Everyone tells me you can teach me all the secrets to success. Could you please just tell me if you’re who I’m supposed to meet?” The old man slowly and deliberately continued to walk toward the river.

“Please, sir, I’ve traveled for days to get here. I’ve hiked all the way up here. I’ve had to patch up cuts and scrapes. I’ve worked hard to find you. This journey is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m sacrificing my interests back home to get here. I was told you were the greatest teacher of all, but you won’t speak!”

Soon, the old man approached the edge of the river. The rapids were quite swift, as the water and boulders were pinched between two small canyon walls. The roar of the river was loud, and the young man found himself increasingly aggravated. If the man did start to speak, how could he hear him anyway? Will this whole effort be a waste? How could everyone speak so highly of this man?

The old man then did the unthinkable. He started walking into the rapids. He was careful in placing his feet, and looked steady and sure. But, the water moved so quickly, and the middle was deep. “Are you trying to avoid me!? What is this? Do you expect people to put in all this work to find you, to make all these sacrifices, then you’re just going to walk away and ignore them!?”

Soon, the old man was up to his waist in the water. He showed no signs of stopping. Suddenly, the young man began to wonder if he was trying to avoid him or if he was committing suicide. He was becoming convinced that this old mute was out of his mind. “Hey, what are you doing? You’re going to drown in there!”

The young man found himself acting. He stepped into the water himself. The water was frigid, unlike any cold he’d ever felt before. Yet, if the old man could do it, he could too. He was a determined young man, after all. He made up his mind that, crazy or not, he was going to save this old man from obvious suicide.

Quickly, he forced himself to move deeper into the water - first to his knees, then waist. Soon, he was almost chest deep, as he saw only the old man’s head above water. The young man struggled to get his footing on the slick rocks below and with the current rapidly rushing around him. Finally, he grabbed hold of the old man’s arm. “I won’t let you drown!,” he yelled over the roar of the river.

Suddenly, the old man turned and grabbed the young man’s head.

He pulled the young man down, completely submerged under the nearly-frozen water. The shock of surprise was even greater than the shock of cold he suddenly felt from head to toe. He couldn’t believe this man would turn on him as he was saving his life! For a moment, the young man remained under water to collect his thoughts. He felt the old man’s hands on his head and his arm, and thought, “He’s not a murderer. Besides, I can overpower this man.” Soon, he decided enough was enough, and the young man began to kick from the bottom. He managed to get his face near the surface, ready to breathe, when the old man’s hand shoved him back under. Struggling now, with a mix of rage and panic, the young man grabbed and pulled and kicked his feet. He even yelled at one point under the water, with only meaningless bubbles rising to the surface.

The panic began to set it. The old man was going to kill him, and no one would ever know. He showed no signs of letting up, and he was much stronger than he expected.

With empty lungs, and with all the courage and energy he could muster, the young man decided on one final push. If this didn’t work, he was a dead man. He shifted his feet to a larger boulder, grabbed the old man with all the strength he had left, then exploded into one final burst of effort to get himself free. He felt the old man’s hands slip from his face, he broke free of his grip, and shot his head out of the water for one glorious and life-giving breath.

The old man had completely let go.

Gasping and thrashing at the water, the young man took in deep breath after breath, searching for the shoreline. He noticed the old man slowly wading through the water, back to dry land. Free of the danger of death, the young man was now violently angry. He had given everything he had to escape death at the hands of a madman, and he now felt more alive than ever. As he waded out of the water, still trudging toward shore, his emotions were pouring out. “What the hell is wrong with you!? You’re supposed to be this great teacher! You’re insane! How the hell could anyone have learned anything from you!?”

The old man walked up the pathway, with the young man behind. As they walked, the sound of the rapids faded, replaced only by the young man’s shouting. The old man finally sat on a large rock. The young man continued, “I should kill you! No one would care! You’re just a crazy old man living in a shack. You know nothing about success! That’s the one thing I came here to learn, and instead you tried to kill me!”

At this, the old man looked up at the young man standing over him. Calmly and plainly, he finally spoke.

“Oh, but I have taught you everything you need to know about success.”

“What the hell are you talking about!? You’ve said nothing until now!”

The old man smiled.

“Words are meaningless. Only actions have meaning. If I had spoken to you about success, you would have taken those words back down the mountain, believing you had worked so hard to learn them. Then, at the first sign of real trouble - the first sign of truly deadly water - my words would have evaporated like smoke into the sky.”

The young man, still catching his breath, couldn’t look away from the old man’s fixed gaze.

“Instead, I showed you exactly how to achieve success. Do you think the world cares about your success? Do you not expect to face challenges as fearful as death itself to you? Anyone can travel to this mountain. Anyone can climb it. Anyone can ask others for directions. Anyone can patch themselves up. Anyone can find an old man in a shack. Most will stop there, believing they’ll have what it takes to succeed. But you? You, my dear student… When you learn to fight for what you want with all the energy and strength you just used to fight for your life in that river, then you’ll find your success.”

The young man slowly sat on the boulder beside the old man. He could barely take in his experience. He had never had to fight for his life before. In fact, prior to entering the water, he thought getting to that mountain was possibly the hardest thing he had ever done. Yet, a new revelation had opened to him. He knew a strength within him he had never known. As he tried to make sense of it all, the old man gave him a small pat on his shoulder, then got up and slowly walked back toward his shack. He left the young man in his thoughts on that rock, knowing he earned yet another graduate on his way to success.

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How hard are you willing to work for what you want in life? Will you work as if your life depends on it? 

Because, it does.