“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
– Seneca (4 BC – AD 65)
PARADIGM SHIFT
Lesson of the Mexican Fisherman
A story is told of an American investment banker who stood upon a pier of a coastal Mexican village when a fisherman docked his boat with a beautiful catch of a few large yellowfin tuna fish.
The investment banker complimented him on the catch and asked how long he’d been out fishing.
“Only a little while,” the man replied.
“But what do you do with the rest of your time?” the banker asked.
“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas 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.”
The investment banker proceeds to offer some unsolicited advice.
He proposes that the fisherman should spend more time fishing in order to pay for a larger boat, hire a few others, and buy a fleet of fishing boats with those proceeds. By scaling his business, he could eventually negotiate better contracts and eventually control the whole process from product to distribution, from start to finish.
And the best part is that, after 15-20 years, he could sell shares of the company in an IPO, become a multi-millionaire, and retire to a small coastal fishing village where he could sleep late, fish a little, play with his kids and grandkids, take siestas, stroll the village in the evenings, sip wine and play his guitar.
Of course, this proposal sounds preposterous when we see it in the form of a short story.
But it illustrates vividly the exact truth which Henry David Thoreau presented when he said:
“There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living.” –Life Without Principle (1863)
Stories like these remind us that true and comprehensive wealth is a combination of time, flexibility, purpose and money.
Seasons of life come and go, wherein one or more of these four wealth pillars necessarily fall out of balance temporarily. But accumulation of money alone is not worth the ultimate sacrifice of the other three elements as a perpetual habit. It’s like having one part of wealth, but with the limited ability to actually enjoy it.
When one of these four elements is thrown off balance, it behooves someone to put down in writing the precise date and plan by which they will return to balance. This might be only months, or it may be three to five years. But in the end, this imbalance should not be perpetual with no end in sight.
The sacrifice of life upon the altar of getting a living is not true wealth.
This is why I propose setting major life milestones that can be achieved in three years or less. This not only offers the real experience of progress, but it also maintains motivation to conquer the next and higher mountain.
Setting yourself free into a life of balance, of synergy among all aspects of your life, is a process. But it’s one that can be accomplished by anyone at any stage of their career.
These are the principles and strategies which I share in detail through the online courses so that those who want to create radical change in their near future can learn a step-by-step process to achieve that lifestyle in which they can grow wealth and enjoy it all along the way.