The Parable Of The Mexican Fisherman

The Mexican fisherman story. Are you familiar with that?

An American businessman goes on holiday to Mexico. He gets taken out fishing by a local Mexican. And he asks the Mexican how he spends his time. The Mexican says, I fish a little in the morning, I catch enough for my family, we go back, we cook, we laugh around the fire and I spend time with my children. And the American businessman goes that’s stupid; here’s a better idea; what you should do is actually spend most of your day fishing and then with the surplus fish, you could sell them at the market. Mexican fisherman says, why would I do that? Once you’ve got the additional money you could start to employ some of your friends and they could come out fishing with you too and you could catch more fish, which you could sell at the market for more money. Why would I do that? You would be able to incorporate in America and you would maybe be able to start a canning factory so that you could own the entire production process and you could then sell the company for a lot of money. And why would I do that? Because you’d be able to fish a little on a morning, and then go back, and spend time with your children around the fire.

A much more direct route to happiness - the place you end up is the place you started from.