the rat race...

The American businessman 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 you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

The Mexican said, “I’ve got enough to support my 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 siesta 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, senor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. 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; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you would run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

”But what then, senor?”

The American laughed, “That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

”Millions, senor? Then what?”

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos..."

From Timothy Ferris' The 4-hour Work Week

Comments

[Aaron]

That is sweet dishing of truth right there. I need to tattoo this story on my forehead.

[Julie Clawson]

Isn't this a re-telling of Diogenes' (the Stoic's) conversation with Alexander the Great?

[John]

One of my favorite stories ever.

[curtis]

Has anyone actually read this book? I'm interested to hear what people think about it...

Here's a VERY critical quote of it from the Amazon site, and I'm wondering what someone else who's read the book as to say in response:

"There's a lot of hypocritical advice and false values being promoted in this book. For example, the author advises you demand to get paid for the quality of your work, not the time spent on doing it, but then he suggests you outsource your labor overseas, paying somebody else $5 an hour to do it. If somebody actually has to do the work, then the "solution" he is promoting is false, because it's simply masking the fact that the work has to be done by somebody, somewhere. Worse, that "somebody"--most likely a poor person in the developing world--is actaully being exploited for another person's benefit. Similarly, the author lists ways you can live and travel for free. Again, these are what I would call false values. They promote a greedy ethic of something-for-nothing, an idea that will appeal to people who want others to work so that they can live the good life."