Know Your Worth – Don’t Argue with Donkeys
Recently, while travelling with a friend, our conversation drifted to professional life — the unfair approaches we sometimes witness, the changes in benefits, favouritism, the hurdles that come in the way of performance, and the humiliations that test our patience.
She then shared a story that has stayed with me.
In a jungle, a donkey and a cheetah were having an argument. The donkey said, “The sky is green.” The cheetah replied, “No, the sky is blue.”
The argument got so heated that they went to the lion, the king of the jungle, for a verdict.
The donkey said, “Lion, you know better. I say the sky is green, and he says it is blue. Tell us who is right.”
The lion listened and declared, “The sky is green,” and then punished the cheetah.
Confused and upset, the cheetah asked, “But you know the sky is blue. Why punish me?”
The lion replied, “You are correct — the sky is blue. But your punishment is for forgetting your value and wasting time arguing with a donkey.”
That struck me deeply.
How often, like the cheetah, do we waste our energy proving ourselves right to people who have no intention of seeing the truth? We let our worth get tangled in pointless debates, driven by ego or the desire to be understood by those who will never understand.
In our professional and personal lives, there will always be “donkeys” — people who thrive on provocation, who refuse to see reason, or who cling to their own version of reality regardless of facts. Engaging in endless back-and-forth with them doesn’t prove our intelligence; it only distracts us from our goals and drains our focus.
The lesson is simple:
Not every battle is worth fighting.
Not every opinion deserves your attention.
Your value isn’t diminished just because someone refuses to acknowledge it.
When we know our worth, we don’t need to win every argument. We simply move forward with dignity, letting our results speak louder than our words.
So, the next time you’re tempted to “prove” yourself, ask — Is this worth my energy? Or am I just arguing with a donkey? Walk away.
Keep your pace. Remember, you’re the cheetah.