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Many of you have heard a version of this popular story I’m going to re-tell. The moral: you shouldn’t try and go and make a bunch of money because you already have all you need. I’m going to show you why this is ridiculous. If you haven’t heard this tale before, here it goes:
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There was once a businessman sitting by the river in a small village. As he sat, he saw a fisherman rowing a small boat toward the shore having caught many, many fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman answered, “Not Long.”
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“Then, why don’t you stay longer and catch even more?” The businessman asked.
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“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman replied.
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The businessman asked, “What do you do for the rest of the day?” The fisherman answered, “I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to catch some fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and when evening comes, I join my friends in the village for a drink. We play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”
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The businessman offered the fisherman a suggestion. “I have a Ph.D. in business management and could help you become more successful. From now on, you should spend more time fishing and try to catch as many as possible. When you’ve saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon, you’ll be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and a distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to the big city, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”
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“And after that?” the fisherman asked.
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The businessman laughed, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you’ll be rich!”
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“And after that?” the fisherman asked, again.
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“After that, you can retire, move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then go home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance through the night!”
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The fisherman was puzzled. “Isn’t that what I’m doing now?”
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Notice that the fisherman has only thoughts about himself – HIS family, HIS entertainment, HIS relaxation. This is the mindset of many people: “I’ve got enough.”
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Let’s call a spade a spade: it’s a selfish mindset. To avoid this, there are the three questions you should ask yourself: Do I want more? Do I deserve more? Can I do more? How honestly you answer these questions will determine the amount of success you’ll have in life. This is because success demands continuous attention. It’s like a beautiful lawn or garden: no matter how green it gets or beautiful the flowers, you must continue to tend it. Don’t do “just enough.”
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Don’t you see the selfishness in the village fisherman story? Who is he helping?
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You need to go beyond meeting your basic needs. Taking long afternoon naps and drinking beer with your buddies every night won’t bring lasting happiness. You want to succeed BIG! But in order to do that, you need to fulfill more than your basic needs. You need more than just a job, more than just health coverage, more than just education and a place to go to work.
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What are basic needs? They include housing, food, clothing and transportation. The village fisherman has his basic needs met.
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The story goes: you have basic needs, and then you get rich, and you still just have basic needs. Of course, both the rich and the poor have basic needs. The difference is that the rich can help others get their basic needs; the others can’t do anything but pity those without.
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Which camp are you going to be in?
