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The Fisherman
An investment banker was on the pier of a small coastal village when a
small boat with just one fisherman docked. His boat was full of beautiful yellow tuna. The
banker complimented the fisherman on his
catch, asking how long it took to catch. The fisherman replied "Only a short time."
The banker asked why not stay out and catch more. The fisherman replied, "I've enough fish to feed my family."
The banker then asked what did the fisherman do with the rest of his time, he replied "I will sleep late, fish a
little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each
evening, sip wine with my friends, play my guitar, I have a full and busy life."
The banker was not impressed. "I have a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing
and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat and from those increased proceeds you could buy several
boats and soon have a fleet. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you could control production, processing
and distribution by
building your own cannery. You could leave this small coastal village and move to the city
then to New York where you could run your expanding enterprise."
The fisherman asked, "How long will this take?"
The banker said, "Ten to 20 years."
"But what then?"
"Next you would announce an IPO and sell your stock to the public, making millions and millions. Then you
could retire to a small coastal village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids,
take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings, sip wine and play your guitar with your friends," said the
banker smiling.
The fisherman looked puzzled, "I don't understand this, you are suggesting that I should go one big loop so as to
end up where I am today, happily fishing on the cliff?"
About the story
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Almost everyone here is constantly working to achieve happiness. We all work hard, trying to earn more
money. What is the point of all this when we are not happy? After all, we are forcing ourselves to work
harder just to obtain happiness. Are we all trying to be like the man above, going a full circle to end up being at
the same place?
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