🎣 The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman
Sunday Scoop #23 - This week, I share with you a short parable. Amidst life's constant rush, I find myself returning to it times and again whenever I need a little clarity on my own purpose. Enjoy!
Hey friends,
This week, I cheat on you guys a little.
Instead of sharing my personal takeaways from the past week, I'm going to share with you a short fable that has long been a favorite of mine.
🎣 The Banker and the Fisherman
An American investment banker was 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 and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “only a little while.”
The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, “but 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 siestas with my wife, Maria, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed. “I have an MBA from Harvard, and can help you,” he said. “You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. 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 middle-man, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening up your own cannery. You could control the product, processing, and distribution,” he said. “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually to New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “Oh, 15 to 20 years or so.”
“But what then?” asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time was right, you would announce an IPO, and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you could retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your amigos.”
Pretty neat, isn't it?
Highly doubt this parable needs any more input on my part but I sincerely do hope that this short fable give you some food for thought. At least for me, it has often put things into perspective and helped me realigned my purpose for doing the things I do.
With that said, I hope that this Parable of the Mexican Fisherman that I find incredibly amusing and am hence sharing with you today adds value to your life in some shape, way, or form.
Have a great week ahead and see you in the next issue of Sunday Scoop!
Jia Shing.
Links
💬 Quote - From one of my favorite autobiographies of all time. Resurfaced by Readwise.
Challenge
This is really more of a challenge to myself.
Considering I cheated a little this week, I'm going to make it up to you guys.
The initial plan for today’s newsletter is to share some insights I've learned from dealing with rejections and failure but I thought that this topic deserved a little more time and attention to elaborate on instead of a brief newsletter.
Besides, the experience I plan to share is quite personal and private. I was slightly reluctant to make it too public but at the same time, I hope it isn’t too narcissistic of me to think that someone out there might benefit from my sharing.
As a balance, I'll be sending out this exclusive article to the newsletter subscribers before Sunday next week. This article will only be sent out through email and will neither be published on this newsletter site nor on my personal website.
If you'd like to give this article a go but you aren’t subscribed yet, there’s still time, just hit the button below!
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