Exodus 35:35 GW
[35] The Lord has made these men highly skilled in all trades. They can do the work of jewelers, carpenters, and designers. They know how to embroider violet, purple and bright red yarn on fine linen. They know how to weave yarn on a loom. They can do all kinds of trades. They are master artists.”
https://bible.com/bible/70/exo.35.35.GW
“Boonsang, you are good at many things.”
Malika paused.
“But you are not yet good enough at the things that matter most.”
Boonsang looked at her and laughed.
“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”
“It is,” Malika replied. “If you understand what I mean.”
They were sitting on a low concrete wall outside a small community library in Savannakhet, watching the afternoon gradually soften into evening. Motorbikes passed along the road, shopkeepers arranged their goods, and the warm air carried the familiar sounds of a city settling into another evening.
Boonsang was sixteen. Malika was seventeen.
They had been friends for years, but recently they had begun talking about something neither of them had taken seriously before:
What would they need to become the people they wanted to be?
Boonsang wanted to become an entrepreneur.
Malika wanted to work in technology.
Both had dreams.
But dreams had begun to feel different to them.
A dream was easy to imagine.
A skill was harder to acquire.
One afternoon, Boonsang complained about a school assignment.
“I know what I want to say,” he said, “but I don’t know how to present it properly.”
Malika nodded.
“You need communication skills.”
“I know.”
“You also struggle with organizing your ideas.”
“I know.”
“And you told me you want to start a business, but you don’t understand money management yet.”
Boonsang sighed.
“I know, Malika!”
She laughed.
“Then why aren’t you doing something about it?”
That question silenced him.
The answer was uncomfortable.
He had been waiting to become better without deliberately becoming better.
He had assumed that confidence would come naturally.
That communication skills would somehow develop with age.
That financial knowledge would appear when he needed it.
That leadership would come when someone finally gave him a leadership position.
Malika had discovered something different.
Skills do not usually arrive because you need them. You acquire them because you deliberately pursue them.
The next morning, she showed Boonsang something she had been reading.
It was a publication filled with articles about financial intelligence, leadership, entrepreneurship, personal growth, and practical life lessons.
“This,” she said, handing it to him, “is more than something to read.”
“What is it?”
“A training ground.”
Boonsang looked at her curiously.
“Every time you read something useful, ask yourself three questions: What did I learn? What can I practice? How can I use this?”
He opened the publication.
The first article was interesting.
The second challenged his thinking.
The third made him uncomfortable because it exposed something he did not know.
That was when Boonsang discovered an important principle:
Not knowing something is not the problem. Refusing to learn it is.
He began spending thirty minutes every evening reading.
Sometimes he read about money.
Sometimes leadership.
Sometimes communication.
Sometimes entrepreneurship.
Sometimes he read about subjects he initially found boring.
But he kept going.
Malika did the same.
Then they began practicing what they learned.
Boonsang started explaining ideas aloud to improve his communication.
Malika began learning digital tools and documenting what she learned.
They challenged each other.
“Teach me what you learned today,” Malika would say.
And Boonsang would explain.
Then he would ask her:
“What did you learn?”
Slowly, something began to change.
They were becoming different from many of their peers.
Not necessarily smarter.
Not necessarily more talented.
They were simply more intentional about developing themselves.
One Saturday, Boonsang said something that surprised Malika.
“I think I understand why people don’t develop themselves.”
“Why?”
“Because the reward isn’t immediate.”
Malika smiled.
“Exactly.”
You can spend money on personal development today and see no immediate financial return.
You can spend months learning a skill before anyone notices.
You can read dozens of books before someone calls you knowledgeable.
You can practice speaking before anyone calls you a good communicator.
You can learn technology before you ever earn money from it.
But something is happening underneath the surface.
You are increasing your capacity.
And capacity creates opportunity.
Boonsang eventually understood that personal development was not an expense to be feared.
It was an investment.
Sometimes the investment would be money.
Sometimes it would be time.
Sometimes it would be discipline.
Sometimes it would simply mean choosing to learn when everyone else was choosing entertainment.
And that investment could produce something far more valuable than immediate money:
the ability to create value.
Months later, Boonsang and Malika entered a youth innovation competition in Savannakhet.
Their project was not the most sophisticated.
But they communicated their idea clearly.
They understood their audience.
They could explain the problem.
They could defend their solution.
They had learned how to research, present, collaborate, and think critically.
When they walked away from the competition, Boonsang looked at Malika.
“We didn’t suddenly become talented.”
“No,” she replied.
“We trained.”
And that was their advantage.
Personal development had not made them perfect.
It had made them prepared.
There are thousands of young people with dreams.
There are fewer who deliberately develop the skills required to achieve those dreams.
That difference creates an advantage.
So read.
Take a course.
Find a mentor.
Learn a language.
Improve your communication.
Study money.
Learn technology.
Develop your leadership.
Spend money on yourself when the investment is worthwhile.
And use resources such as this publication not merely for entertainment, but as part of your personal development journey.
Because the person you become determines what opportunities you can recognize, create, and sustain.
Your greatest investment may not be something you buy. It may be the person you become.
Your greatest investment may not be something you buy. It may be the person you become.
A Lao proverb says:
“ຮູ້ແລ້ວຈຶ່ງເຮັດ, ເຮັດແລ້ວຈຶ່ງຮູ້.”
“Know, then do; do, then learn.”
The world is full of opportunities.
But opportunities often pass unnoticed by people who have not developed the skills to recognize them.