“The Mexican Fisherman” – Life Simple?
Which life would you rather live?
An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
“How long did it take you to catch them?” The American asked.
“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.
“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.
“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”
“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”
“But what then, senor?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”
“Millions, senor? Then what?”
The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”
My answer pre-mid-2023…
Why do we make life so complicated, when it can be simple…? Would doing less get you where you want to be sooner and less stressfully than doing more now to “get to do” less later? Why not cut to the chase?
It’s easy to fall into the thinking that, if I do all “this” then in some hypothetical future I can finally do what I want. Personally, I have found this exhausting, draining me of today’s joy as I always live in the future to eventually be able to enjoy my future in the present. There is something to be said for not putting yourself in a precarious financial situation, but that makes it all the more important to question what it is we really need (plus maybe a few “wants”) and determining how to hit that mark in ways that enliven us or at least allow us to live our priorities. What does going above and beyond do if we can be content with less, besides lead to overwhelm? Instead, question everything and challenge yourself to live a simpler life today.
My answer come late 2023…
After listening to Brendon Burchard and Codie Sanchez, I realized there is a gray space between these extremes. I don’t merely want to survive and the way things are going, it seems like it will be important to have significantly more financial freedom than I had dared to dream, but we need to be intentional about our relationships, values, and health along the way.
We need to understand that conditions and strategies to acquire wealth today may not work in the future. Look at real estate right now. Sure, there are deals out there, but it is nowhere as simple or easy as it was before. Codie makes an incredibly convincing case to build ownership and equity through acquiring businesses, look her up. From Brendon, I learned that being rich and wealthy does not have to mean you have forsaken family and values along the way if you do it right. What are you limiting beliefs? I sure learned from them about some of mine. There is abundance out there, you need to belief you are worthy and capable of earning it.
But most of all I learned from both of them is that life is about service and contribution. If you go and live alone in the woods, who are you serving, how are you bettering the world? These are what enliven us.
Just because the businessman built something before retiring isn’t inherently wrong. Hopefully he lived, loved, and relaxed along the way, built a company that improved others, and met some amazing people along the way, transforming their lives. You don’t hear about this from the story or the fisherman’s daily struggles to survive. Furthermore, only being able to serve you and your family’s needs is extremely noble, but what if it’s in you to serve so many more? (I think it’s in all of us.) Don’t sell yourself short. Identify your limiting beliefs and slay them. Dare to dream big and move mountains, my friends.
