Group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and in life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
”If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
”What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other‘s cups.
翻译：
一群毕业生，各自的事业都已有所建树，相约一起去看望他们的大学教授。谈话一会儿就变成了各自对工作生活压力的抱怨。教授去厨房端来一大壶咖啡招待这些客人，拿出各式各样的咖啡杯——陶瓷的、塑料的玻璃的、水晶的，有普通的、有价值不斐的、有做工精致的——让他们自己挑。
当所有学生手中都拿了咖啡杯之后，教授发话了：
“如果你们注意一下，就可以发现所有好看的贵的杯子都给挑走了，剩下的只是那些普通的和便宜的。当然，每个人都想给自己挑到那个最好的，这很正常，但这也正是你们的问题和压力根源之所在。”
“其实你们真正想要的是咖啡，而不是杯子，但你们却又都下意识去挑选最好的杯子，并观察别人拿到的杯子。”
