Another Look
at the Rat Race
An American investment banker was
vacationing in a small Mexican coastal
village. While walking near a pier
he observed a small boat with just one
fisherman. Inside the boat with
the Mexican fisherman were several
yellowfin tuna. The American
complimented the Mexican on the quality
of his fish and asked how long it took
to catch them. “Only a little
while.” replied the fisherman.
The American then asked why he
didn’t 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 fisherman responded, “I sleep
late, fish a
little, play with my children, take a
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 and with the proceeds buy a
fleet of boats. Instead of selling
your fish to a middleman, you could sell
directly to a processor. You could
eventually open your own cannery.
You would contol the product, processing
and distribution. You would need
to leave this small village and move to
Mexico City, then LA and eventually New
York where you could run your expanding
enterprise.
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But
how long will this take?” The
American replied, “15 to 20 years!”
“But then what?”, asked the
fisherman.
The American laughed and said,
“That’s the best part. When the time
is right you could sell your enterprise
and make millions!”
“But then what?”, repeated the
fisherman.
“Then you could retire,” the
American replied, “and move to a small
coastal fishing village where you could
sleep late, fish a little, play with
your kids, take siestas with your wife,
stroll to the
village in the evenings where you could
sip wine and play guitar with your
amigos. You would have a full and busy
life.”
The Mexican fisherman smiled at the
American, quietly gathered his catch and
walked away. The American was left
there alone pondering the
distorted wisdom of his own strategy and
advice.
Shake It Off
and Step Up
There once was a farmer who had an
old mule that had served him for many
years. One day that mule fell into a
deep, dry well. After carefully
assessing the situation and trying
various methods, the farmer decided that
there was no way to extract the trapped
animal. The farmer called his
neighbors together and enlisted them to
help him haul dirt to bury the old mule
thereby putting him out of his misery.
When the farmer and his neighbors
started shoveling dirt into the well the
old mule became hysterical as the first
dirt hit him on the back. The mule
instinctively shook it off and stepped
up on the fallen dirt. As more and
more dirt fell on the mule, he repeated
the “shake it off and step up”
routine.
After a half an hour of shoveling,
the farmer and friends peered down the
well to check their progress. To
their amazement they saw the mule was
standing on top of the dirt they had so
laboriously put in the well.
Encouraged by the resourcefulness of the
old mule, the workers doubled their
shoveling efforts. It wasn’t
long before the old mule, battered and
exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the
wall of the well. The dirt that
was to have buried him actually blessed
him because of the manner in which he
handled his adversity.
It’s rare that an old mule could
provide such a model of how to handle
adversity. Better yet it’s easy
to remember, “shake it off and step
up”.
Easy
to Say, Tough to Do
How many books have you read, how
many seminars have you attended, how
many tapes have you heard...all telling
you the keys to motivating yourself? It
seems very clear that motivation is not
contagious but more a God given trait.
We envy those who have it. But for those
that don’t have it, the answer may
rest in developing a “success
partner”. Someone who will be
our encouragement, sounding board, and
most of all, our accountability
resource.
The beauty of the success partner
system is that it is available to
everybody. A success partner can
be a friend, co-worker, spouse, pastor,
or relative. Often you can serve
as their success partner too.
Success partners are likely in your life
right now. It just takes the
courage to ask for help, admit one’s
vulnerability and honor another with
your trust and confidence. Leave
the “rah rah” to cheerleaders.
Get rooted in a special power source,
your success partner!
Oh, by the way, you’d be
amazed at how many are using this
resource already. It’s an often
used success secret!
|
