About
Always about making life simpler, less complicated, less cluttered, to spend time only on things that I enjoy. I hope to bring that problem-solving approach to what’s troubling you at this very minute.
Here’s a story about a fisherman and a businessman that questions what we are chasing after.
There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small kampung.
As he sat, he saw a fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite a few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “Eh abang, how long did it take you to catch so many fish siol?”
The fisherman replied, “Eh, just a short while lah.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch more?” The businessman was astonished.
“Because, this is enough to feed my whole family already,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening come, I join my abang adik in the kampung to lepak — we play guitar, sing and chill the whole night.”
The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“Look, I got a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this kampung and to the city, where you can set up HQ to manage other branches.”
The fisherman continues, “And then?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a sultan in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the stock exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And then?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, move to a house by the kampung, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your abang adik for a drink, play guitar, sing and chill the whole night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”
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Always ask if you could be the fisherman, when someone or something is over-complicating their own lives.
Only then, can we appreciate little things in life.
Like, strolling without an umbrella in the rain.
Now, let’s talk business.