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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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