A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.
“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.
“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.
The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.
The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life.”
The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”
“And after that?” asked the Mexican.
“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”
“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.
“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.
“And after that?”
“Afterwards? Well my friend, that’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!”
“Millions? Really? And after that?” asked the Mexican.
“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.”
And the moral of this story is: ……… Know where you’re going in life… you may already be there.
It’s so true, sometimes we can get so caught up in the rat race that we forget why we went into business in the first place.
We should also learn from the recent economic upheaval that too much greed can lead to trouble. I love the idea of an afternoon siesta – have to build that into the schedule
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Great story. We can easily get caught up in pursuing more and more when what we really want is something else.
This is a great reminder to live in the moment. Enjoy what we already have. Life is happening now in this moment.
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I recall this story from the book “the monk who sold his Ferrari” and I think it is great since it make it so obvious for everyone that money isn’t everything in life. If you find something that makes you happy it’s way better to keep with it than become rich only to end up where you started.
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Nice story Rod
sometimes what we are looking for is right under our nose,
ps is that boat for sale I dont exactly want the boat just the dodgy looking pallets
on the back I need to mend a hole in my fence.
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This another story of living dose not need a lot of money.
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Nice story. Pays to have the right perspective. In life it’s too easy to be caught in an endless cycle of pursuits, which if you really think them through is not that important anyway. The fisherman has got sense!
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Hi Rod,
Another good story showing what life is really all about.
Often all people can talk about and think about is money. I heard it said many times that what people really want is not money but what money can buy.
I don’t buy that argument as a general rule. The obsession with money can be illustrated by another true story which happened years ago.
A man on his death bed called a well known spiritual man to his bedside.
The spiritual man came thinking about how he will speak about spiritual things to the dying man.
“So what is on your mind?” he asked.
To his surprise the dying man wasn’t in the mood for discussing afterlife or anything spiritual. He pointed the spiritual man to a file drawer where he kept his bank book.
I think I’ve lead a pretty good and successful life said the man on his deathbed with a proud and self satisfying smile.
You can tell that by the amount of money I’ve accumulated.
Vance
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I love this story, and I think jan geronimo hit the nail on the head!
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