There was a father who had a son with a bad temper.  The father knew the danger of the anger, so he gave his son a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail in to the back of the fence.  The first day the boy had driver twenty-seven nails into the fence.  Over the next few weeks, as the son learned to control his anger, the number of nails he hammered daily gradually dwindled.

The son discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.  Finally, the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all.  He told his father bout it, and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.  The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.  He said, ” You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.  The fence will never be the same.  When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.”

Anger is a natural human emotion.  The problem is not in anger; the problem is in the mismanagement of anger.  Get more advice and help from my new book “Use Your Head to Get Your Foot In The Door”.

About the author Harvey Mackay

Seven-time, New York Times best-selling author of "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive," with two books among the top 15 inspirational business books of all time, according to the New York Times. He is one of America’s most popular and entertaining business speakers, and currently serves as Chairman at the MackayMitchell Envelope Company, one of the nation’s major envelope manufacturers, producing 25 million envelopes a day.

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