I came upon a short story this morning I thought was worthy of repeating here.
In the old fable "The Devil's Best Tool" the Devil is going out of business and is selling all the tools of his trade. for sale are such implements such as the hammer do hatred, the scythe of spite, the maul of malice and the dagger of deceit. As one would expect, the Devil's tools are all ominous, but oddly the highest price item in his arsenal is an extremely worn and harmless-looking wedge. When asked why it was so expensive, the Devil slowly smiles and replies, "To be totally candid, this may be my most powerful weapon of all. I call it the wedge of doubt. When all my other tools fail me, I know I can always rely on doubt and discouragement to break the heart and shatter the will of man."
The moral of this fable is: Don't the underestimate the devastating power of doubt to keep you from becoming and doing your best.
