There is a tale circulating on the Internet that has gone viral many times over. It is well known in MBA circles. Here is one version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a successful businessman who went on vacation to a beautiful coastal village. One day, while walking along the beach, he came across a fisherman who was lounging in his boat, basking in the sun and strumming on his guitar.
The businessman struck up a conversation with the fisherman and soon discovered that he spent his days fishing just enough to provide for his family’s needs, then relaxing and spending time with his friends and loved ones. The businessman was impressed by the fisherman’s simple way of life and began to offer him advice on how he could improve his situation.
The businessman urged the fisherman to work harder, catch more fish. With the additional money he got he could buy another boat and hire other fishermen to work for him. Soon he could have a flotilla of fishing boats.
“And then what?” asked the fisherman.
The businessman patiently explained that the fisherman could then build a factory to process the fish he caught and sell them all over the country in refrigerated vans. Of course, he would have to get investors to finance the factory and the vans and he described how all this could happen.
“And then what?” asked the fisherman.
“Then you could sell your company and become a rich man and do whatever you wanted,” said the rich man excited at the possibilities open to the fisherman. “You could be on the beach all day and play your guitar and hang out with your friends.”
“But that is what I do now,” said the puzzled fisherman.
Look at your life today and then look back twenty years. Odds are pretty good that your life right now is something that you dreamed of a bare two decades ago.
So why aren’t you happier than you are?
Should you be content? If you are not, should you try to learn how to be content?
Then what becomes of ‘progress’ and your ‘achieving your full potential’?
These are questions I get all the time.
The answer is simple. It is easy to understand but not at all easy to implement.
Be content. Right now. With whatever situation you are in and have achieved.
Then continue to work to achieve more if, and only if, the work itself is your source of joy. You work because moving toward whatever goal you have is your path in life. Not because ‘getting there’ will somehow make you happier. Not because ‘getting there’ will make you richer or more famous or envied by others.
And that is when you discover that you have built the cage in which you are imprisoned. You ‘need’ the job you find unfulfilling to support the lifestyle that you also find unfulfilling.
You know there is a lot of junk in your life, but you cannot throw it out. Not yet. The situation is further complicated by the presence of others in your life who urge you to strive harder and acquire more junk.
So what do you do?
First understand the predicament you are in. Understand it deeply. This is perhaps the most important step.
Then begin the long process of disentanglement. Let go of what does not serve the person you are becoming. Be gentle. It may take a long, long time. But, once you achieve clarity, the journey becomes joyful.
This article by Srikumar Rao originally appeared on The Rao Institute
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