There are many important life skills which are not taught in schools and colleges. But, there are some books which unknowingly or knowingly teach you life lessons. Of all those books, Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one book which can teach you some classic life skills.
At times, it so happens that you have read about a particular skill but you are not confident about that skill in you. As an entrepreneur it becomes necessary to be aware about your potentials and make optimal use of them. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to understand you’re what skills you possess and make right use of them as and when required.
Discussed below are some of the skills that you might be familiar with if you have read the book- Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
No Short-cut:
Often, people look for short-cuts to reach their destinations but they lead you to wrong path or wrong destination. If you read the book carefully, you will notice that Tom won the Bible in exchange of Sunday school scripture tickets. But, he was unaware about significance of the Bible and hence could not gain knowledge from the holy guide. This clearly indicates that half-knowledge or no-knowledge is dangerous and you need to have proper knowledge about your journey (business in this context). Do you remember Tom cheating and how he had to bear its consequences later on?
This clearly defines that there is no shortcut and you need to deal with odds of your business or any other situation in your life.
You can make your work interesting:
You might be familiar with the most memorable scene in the book –the fence whitewashing scene. Right at the beginning, Tom tricks his friends to perform this chore on his behalf.
But, if only Tom had decided to actually enjoy performing this task on his own considering it as one of the rare opportunities rather than just flaunting it. He would have actually enjoyed the task along with his friends not that he didn’t but he could have enjoyed it as much as his friends did.
The lesson learnt through this incident is that you have the potential to make your work interesting. If you are successful in doing so you are definitely going to have fun doing it and love the way it is.
Build your imagination techniques:
Although Tom went to school and had a schedule of daily activities, he also had his unplanned adventures to keep him going. He did miss school to play with his friends. He also had fun at school along with his peers.
The good part being, his aunt never strictly supervised his activities which gave him the liberty to indulge in activities of his choice and improve his imagination skills.
Similarly, business owners must learn to be flexible with their business approach because stubborn attitude may restrict their growth. The simplest and best example is if a company is experiencing financial turmoil the owner might search for alternative finance option rather than sticking to a lengthy bank process.
This way, you will acquire finance immediately and from the right source. . Your imagination improves with practice. Therefore, you need to give significant amount of time to yourself for your imagination to evolve.
Truth prevails in the end:
While reading you also feel sad when Tom feels horrible during the entire Injun Joe murder situation. That particular part clearly indicates that irrespective of the truth being bitter or harsh, you should be strong enough to say it and accept it.
Telling the truth saves you from ugly situations and getting eloped into unnecessary controversy which can tarnish your company image and reputation. Business is prone to several uncertainties and crucial situations so making false promises or denying facts cannot save you from its repercussions.
For instance, if your company sales are dropping then there is no point denying it.. Instead, you should search for effective strategies which could possibly boost sales and bring you out of the current state.
Put your words, actions as they are your last encounter!
You never know when your last encounter with an individual or business is. Therefore, it is important to always keep track of your words and actions. Avoid using rude language or actions which hurt others because this has the power of ruining a healthy relationship.
For instance, if you are unhappy or unsatisfied by a particular client or employee then the best thing is to do is politely deny them that you cannot work with them any further.
Do you remember the part where Tom pretends to die where he just wanted to know how people react to his death? Well, that definitely was not a good idea but all what people do is regret saying bad things or behaving in an awful manner with him.
Therefore, it is wise to treat people nicely so that you do not regret your actions later in life.