Russell Conwell, the founder and first president of Temple University, told the story of "Acres of Diamonds" to illustrate just how often focus is misplaced:
A wealthy landowner in south Asia was living a full and contented life until he learned of the magnificence and power of diamonds. The landowner, obsessed by the prospect of possessing such radiant jewels, concluded his life was not that full after all. He sold off his property, abandoned his family - in short, risked everything searching vainly for something he believed he lacked. Desperate and broke after years of searching, he cast himself into the sea and drown. The tragedy of the tale is that years after the man began his quest the new owner of his property discovered, in a stream the former landowner had often cooled himself beside, the richest deposit of diamonds in the world. That former landowner had literally walked away from acres of diamonds, ending his life in despair, because he did not know what treasure he possessed.
Is this a true story? You bet. It's a story that has been lived millions of times by millions of people. People willingly abandon their greatest assets in search of something they mistakenly believe they lack.