What’s It All For?

The one thing I did manage to get done on our trip to New Zealand was to re read The 4 Hour Work Week – I felt it was relevant considering the minimal nature of my actual work on the trip

I don’t know whether you’re into lifestyle design and the whole 4 hour WW principle but there was one parable that on reading the book again REALLY stood out to me.

I don’t have the book with me at present but I’ll try to recite it loosely here from memory.  It went something like this:

…

After a health scare, a wealthy but aging business man was ordered by his doctor to spend some time on a work free vacation in Mexico.

While on his holiday, he spent alot of time on the beaches of a small coastal fishing town, pondering his work and his life.

He often watched a particular curious fisherman who would return his boat to the dock after fishing for only a few hours per day managing to bring home but a tiny catch.

Puzzled after seeing this for a number of consecutive days, he decided to ask the fisherman what was going on?

“Excuse me Sir” He asked, “I couldn’t help but wonder why it is that you only fish such a short time each day?”

“I only catch enough so that I can live day to day and feed me and my family”, The fisherman casually replied.

“But what do you do with the rest of your day?” The business man questioned.

“I relax with my wife during the day,  we take siestas in the afternoon, and I play guitar and drink wine with my amigos in the evening.

The Harvard business graduate smiled “Well I’ve got some great news for you!” “Do you realize that  if you spent even a little more time out fishing each day, you could easily double the size of your catch and in turn, your weekly profits!”

“And then what?” the fisherman asked?

“Then you could use that extra profit to invest in another fishing boat and hire another fisherman to expand your business!”

“And then what?”

“Well then you could gradually build a whole fleet of successful boats. After this you’d probably have to move to Mexico City where there is more opportunity and you could keep your fleet expanding while selling in a market where there is more demand”

“And then what?” The fisherman asked again.

“And then the possibilities are endless! You could develop an entire fisheries company and take over your own production. You would probably need to move your family to New York and establish a base there where you could manage the operations while the divisions below you handled the rest!”

“And then what?”, the fisherman persisted.

“Well then is the best part! You could float shares in your company and make $100 million dollars in one day! Imagine that!”

“And then what?”

“And then what?!” The business man exclaimed?! “Then you could retire with your family to a small coastal fishing town in Mexico, where you could fish all day, take siestas with your wife in the afternoon, and play guitar and sip wine with your amigos all evening!”

Interesting huh?

I won’t say anything else here as I’d rather leave you with these thoughts and let you take from them what you need to at whatever stage you’re at in your life.

P.S. If you haven’t read 4hr WW, you REALLY should.