It Isn’t Just About the Money – Setting Your Priorities

A Story I heard recently:

On a bright and sunny day a fishing boat docked in an idyllic Greek village shortly after noon. An American tourist, who was admiring the modest catch, complimented the Greek fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“A couple of hours,” answered the fisherman.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The fisherman explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, drink a few glasses of wine and sing a few songs….I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have a business degree from Wharton and I can help you become very successful! You should get started earlier and fish longer every day. You can then sell the xtra fish to a middleman. With the extra income, you can buy a bigger boat, which will then enable you to catch even more fish. With the extra money from the sale of the fish, you can buy a second boat and a third and so on until have an entire fleet of fishing boats. At that point you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and possibly even open you own palnt. You can then leave this little village and move to Athens or even San Francisco! From there you can direct your huge enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Greek.

“Fifteen to maybe 20 years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can expland on a global scale. At that point you would be able to go public, start selling stocks and make millions maybe even billions!”

“Millions or even billions? And what would I do after that,” asked the fisherman.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, catch a few fish, play with your children, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking wine, singing songes and enjoy being with your friends.”

And that is setting your priorities.