The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman

Hey friends,

I want to share this fun little story with you today. I stumbled across it a few years ago and it had an immediate impact on me, changing the way I view productivity and lifestyle design. I revisit it several times a year, so even if you’ve heard it before, I hope the reminder will be useful.

The Parable of 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 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.”

(Source: Probably Heinrich Böll’s short story Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral)

Stuff I’ve been enjoying this week

Audiobook – I finished listening to Words of Radiance, the second book in The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. I’m now listening to Edgedancer, which is a novella set between books 2 and 3. While listening to Words of Radiance there were legit so many moments where I found myself in tears of awe at the stuff that was going down. Can’t recommend the series highly enough.

PS: If you’re not a subscriber to Audible, you can sign up to the free trial and get a free Audiobook (and if you use my link, I make a few quid too!)

Music – This duet of In My Blood by Shawn Mendes and Zac Brown Band is incredible. When this came up in my YouTube recommendations it literally made my day. Zac Brown Band have some absolute bangers as well – their song Chicken Fried is one that always gets my and my friends excited and screaming out the lyrics.

That’s it for now 😁 I should probably finish my coffee and head home now to bash through some more editing for my upcoming online Interview Crash Course.

Have a great week!

Ali