This week, I’m traveling through the
beautiful country of Greece with my family and some close friends. We are visiting Athens, Mykonos, and
Santorini, and I am enjoying seeing historic sites and learning more about
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. I’m also
becoming more worldly – for instance, I’ve learned that Greek yogurt is simply
called yogurt over here.
The following is a story I came across
about a Greek fisherman that I found especially worthwhile and timely for
anyone in heated pursuit of their dreams. I hope you enjoy it…
An American business executive was on
holiday in a small coastal village in Greece.
As he strolled the docks and took in the seaside beauty, he noticed a
local Greek fisherman with a particularly sizeable quantity of fish.
“That’s quite a catch,” he told the
man, genuinely impressed. “How long did
it take you to get all those fish?”
“Not
very long,” answered the fisherman, “perhaps an hour or two.”
This
puzzled the executive. “Really? Then why didn’t you stay out longer to catch
more?”
The
fisherman shrugged, then answered that his catch was perfectly sufficient to
meet the needs of himself and his family.
“But,
then what do you do with the rest of your time?” the executive asked.
“I
sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a nap with my wife,”
the fisherman answered. “In the evenings,
I go to the village to see my friends, dance a little, play the pan flute, and
sing songs. I have a full life.”
“Well,
I have an MBA from Harvard, and I’m sure I can help you,” the executive
replied. “And I’ll be happy to give you some free business advice that can
definitely change your life. You should
start by fishing longer every day. This
way, you’ll catch extra fish that you can sell. Just think about it. If you double the number of hours you fish,
you can catch twice as much in a day. With
the additional money you’ll make from selling the extra fish, you’ll be able to
buy a bigger boat. A bigger boat will
let you bring on a crew and fish deeper waters, which will earn you even more
money as you continue to catch more fish.
With
that additional money you’ll earn, you can buy a second boat, and then repeat
that till you can buy a third boat, and so on until you have an entire fleet of
fishing trawlers. Also, instead of
selling your fish to a middleman at the market, you’ll be able to start
negotiating directly with processing plants.
At some point, maybe you’ll even open your own plant, so you can do your
own processing and keep even more money.
You’ll be able to ship fish to markets all over the world. And eventually, you can move to New York City
to direct your vast fishing enterprise from the greatest business city on earth.”
“How
long do you think all that would that take?” asked the fisherman.
“Twenty,
perhaps twenty-five years from start to finish,” the executive answered.
“And
after I achieve all of that, then what?”
“When
your business gets really big, you begin offering stock. You’ll make millions!”
“Millions? Really?
That’s a lot of money. I can’t even imagine what I would do with it.”
“Well,
you’ll be able to retire, live in a small village near the coast, sleep late,
play with your grandchildren, catch a few fish, take a nap with your wife, and
spend your evenings singing, dancing, and playing the pan flute with your
friends…” The executive stopped, realizing
what he had just said. The fisherman
smiled.
“Hmm. Well, anyway, that’s quite a catch you have
there,” the executive finished. “Enjoy
the rest of your day.”
“Thank
you,” the fisherman answered. “I
certainly will.”
Now
obviously, this isn’t a story about why you shouldn’t work hard. It’s simply a reminder that we all need to consider
some simple questions about what we do or hope to do with our lives. Many people focus too much time on what they
do for a living instead of on why they do it.
Once you understand the why, then you can organize your life so you
don’t have to wait until you retire to truly enjoy what you love. Start by pursuing what you love, and soon
enough, you’ll be loving what you do!
As
for me… I’m going back to the beach.
Until
Next Week,
Live
Your Dreams!
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