How do you measure success? (Mexican fisherman story)
 

I know most people here measure success in terms of how many sales per week they do. But I found this little story somewhere that's pretty interesting and offers a different perspective on "success":

The Mexican 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 yellow fin 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 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."

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 will run your expanding enterprise."

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

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

"But what then?"

The American laughed and said 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.. 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."

Success can only be measured when the person dies... count the number of people that comes to visit his funeral.

Life is really simple; it's just that we insist on making it complicated..



Nice story there, pal. :thumbsup

nice story.

There's probably some truth to that one...

great story :thumbsup

What I get out of that story is: If your only ambition in life is to do nothing, you can get started right away. There's a lot of truth in that statement.

Most people who just want to do nothing are working way too much so that they can finally do nothing. Then the die two weeks after retirement.

:glugglug

my ambition is to do nothing, now I do almost nothing, but I don't feel secure when doing nothing or almost nothing yet....

so I want to make significantly more money while doing nothing

to much reading here ....
sucsess is in ones pants
all the rest is a bunch of crap :2 cents:

success is when someone's sattisfied with his own deeds... and it's all subjective...

Nice. I like it!

Wouldn't it be more like:

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing, buy a gigantic home, an expensive car, sleep late, fish a little off your huge yacht, tell your maid to play with your kids, take siesta with your 21 year old girlfriend, get chauferred to the village in the evenings where you could sip quality wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

great! thank you.

you are reading my thoughts.
But i'd like to do not nothing at all but to do what i want to do in the moment , something insignificant like watering plants, cooking, watching TV , reading.
And get money for that :)

cool story...but i guess the fisherman doesnt want to leave his kids anything

yes, he forgot that he had familly. And they want more than fish.

Success for me is to be able to have hot unbridled angry sex every other night. The kind that you only see in Bugs Bunny movies. In between days, that I should be able to sleep soundly.

Seems to confuse form with contentment. Doing nothing and being contented is fine but you have to have the basics covered--health care, daily sustenance, security, etc. But I do agree with the core message--the top of the Maslovian hierarchy of needs doesn't have a price tag or social rank.

that was said so clever. Even difficult to understand :)

Success for me is knowing what you rally want and getting them at the right time.