The Touchstone

Hello,

Permit us to use this opportunity to formally welcome you into the New Year!

A little late in coming you might say? Well, we wanted to be sure we got everything covered before dishing it out to you.

So, here's what we've got -

1. Due to feedback we've been getting from you, we have changed the coverage of our monthly conferences and seminars guide to quarterly. This means that you will now be getting information three months ahead. We reckoned the quarterly edition will make it possible for you to see further into the future and plan well. The guide is available for download on our website and social network pages. Better still, click here to download your (revised and updated) copy.

2. To ease the problems associated with booking hotels when you are going for conferences or training, we have now made it possible for you to book your hotel accommodations ahead of time directly from our website. Click here to view the portal we have set up for this purpose.

3. This year, our Blog, Twitter and Facebook pages are going to assume a new bounce; news, articles, conferences papers and authoritative views and write-ups from eminent scholars, professionals and administrators in the Nigerian training industry. Connect with us on these platforms to get first-hand access to these updates as we post them.

Need we go on? Well, let's keep some of the goodies for next month...

Meanwhile, we encourage you to make very good use of the information we have provided in the 1st Qtr Conferences, Seminars and Training Guide to fool-proof your training and development plans for the new year.

Before you go, here's a little story to encourage you.


The Touchstone

When the great library of Alexandria burned, so goes the story one book was saved, But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers. The book wasn't interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!


The touchstone was a pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles.

He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebbles hundreds of tims. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realised what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble int the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.

So, it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, its so easy to fail and recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

The lesson? Have been laborously picking up "cold pebbles", stay focused and vigilant. Your "Touchstone" may just be the "pebble" you are holding in your hand right now. Pause, and thing before you throw it away!

Please accept our best wishes for the New Year.

Best regards,

Admin,
Nigerian Seminars and Trainings.com