The diamond dust story

Got this story from here: http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2092/topics/338804
I find this story interesting, and hence share it here.

There was a story that happened back in the late 1990s, depicts of a young man who got hired as a maintenance worker (cleaner in short) in a diamond refinery factory in Japan. His daily job scope was to make sure, the factory was clean and free of dust before and after the factory closes.

Diamond refinery operations back in those days were still somewhat medieval; there were no machines, no proper cutting tools, everything from the unloading of raw diamond rocks to the crafting of diamonds where done by hand.

Because the factory was huge, everyday the young man would sweep for hours upon hours and carry tons of plastic black bags, filled with dirt and dust to throw into the nearby dumping container. But there was one evening he noticed that one of the bags he was about to throw into the container, had a small cut underneath and shinning dust was flowing out, in small gentle amounts on the ground.

Sensing an opportunity, the young man took one of the bag of dirt, home and started sifting through the dirt , painstakingly separating dirt from diamond dust. Eventually after 68 days of doing so, he managed to come out with a bag of diamond dust, that was eventually sold to a underground dealer. This resulted in a huge inflow of cash for him that was enough to get him through his university education.



So, what can we learn from this story?
(1) Opportunities are always present. We need to open our eyes to see it and take it. Do not let opportunities slip away when they come to you.
(2) Even when opportunities are present, hard work and discipline are still required.