Finding the Good Life
I heard this story several years ago in reference to finding the good life. I don’t know where it originated so I can’t give credit to the originator, but the lesson is poignant.
A rich business consultant was on vacation at a seaside resort in Mexico. He wandered down to the dock and saw a poor fisherman sitting in his run-down boat. He stepped over and asked, “How’s it going?”
“Oh, Senior,” the fisherman answered. “I can’t complain. I have my boat. I fish a few times a week to earn a few pesos to feed my family. In the evenings I sit on my porch and strum my guitar and spend time with my children. Sometimes I earn enough to go to the bar and drink with my friends and tell stories. It’s not much, but it’s a good life.”
“Well,” said the rich man. “What if I told you I could teach you how to become rich?”
“That would be nice, senior.”
“First,” the rich man said, “you would get up early and go fishing every day, not coming back until dark, and sell all the fish you can catch. Pretty soon if you work hard and save enough, you can buy another boat and hire other fisherman to increase your revenue. If you keep the boats out long enough each day, you’ll save enough to purchase another boat and hire more fishermen. After a few years of hard work you’ll have a whole fleet of boats, and can stay on the shore and sell your catch to the big processing companies.
“After a while of doing this, if you work hard, you can build your own processing plant, process all the fish your own boats catch, and sell the processed fish directly to the stores and restaurants. You’ll spend your days working hard, meeting with customers, building your business. It will be a sacrifice, but after many years of this, you’ll be in a position where you can sell the company you’ve built up for a great amount of money. You’ll be in control of your own destiny and be a rich man.”
“That would be nice, senior,” the fisherman said. “But what would I do with all that money?”
“Oh that’s the best part,” the rich man said. “After all those years of hard work, you’ll finally have the freedom to buy yourself a nice boat so you can go out on the ocean a few times a week. In the evenings you can sit on your porch strumming your guitar and spend time with your children. Occasionally you’ll go to the bar and drink with your friends and tell stories.”
Sometimes the distance between where we are and where we want to be isn’t that great. Recognize first what you already have before looking for it elsewhere.
