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THIS WEEKS THOUGHT - The Mexican Boatman - 22nd July 2007

Reading / Viewing Time 1 minute 30 seconds    FOR A PODCAST PLEASE CLICK HERE 

I read this story a couple of months ago in Nightingale Conant's Insight magazine and thought it was a great story. Then last week Peter Thomson author of the fantastic audio program The Achievers Edge sent me through the same story saying it had changed his life. So with no more introduction here goes.

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 yellow-fin 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."

 Recommended Audio CD's
THE ACHIEVERS EDGE 
 Think & Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
 Good to Great - Jim Collins
 Psychology of Achievement - Brian Tracy
 Discover Your Strengths - M Buckingham
 7 Habits of Highly Effective- Stephen Covey
 Rich Dads Secrets - Robert Kiyosaki
 Maverick Mindset - John Elliot
 Vocal Power - Roger Love
 Quantum Memory - Dominic O'Brien
 Getting Things Done - David Allen
A Short History of Nearly Everything- B Bryson

 

 Recommended Books

 Good to Great - Jim Collins 
  7 Habits - Stephen Covey
  Discover you Strengths - M Buckingham 
  Richard Branson's Auto biography
  Brilliant Memory - Dominic O'Brien
  Think & Grow Rich -  Napoleon Hill 
  Freakonomics - Stephen Levitt
 Getting Things Done - David Allen
 The Machine That Changed the World
 Watching the English - Kate Fox
A Short History of Nearly Everything- B Bryson

 

 

Archives

The World in Perspective

Acres of Diamonds

First impressions in 30s

The Two Minute Rule

 Noughts and Crosses

 Think and Grow Rich

 3 Blind Men & An Elephant
 Someone Everyone Anyone No-one
 12 Questions to High Performance
 The Bee Can't Fly but No-one told the bee
 The Maverick Mindset of Baseball
 Three Men and a Boat
 Stop
 Two Cannibals & a Beautiful Girl
 The Meaning of Life  
 What was your name again?
 Two Frogs
 Is Common Sense Possible
 An Architects Vision
 Does Edison Turn Your Light On

 

Other books and CDs I've mentioned can be found here

There are loads of great audio programs at Nightingale Conant's ,web site here,

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 a siesta with my wife, Maria, 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 am a Harvard MBA and could help you. 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, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.

Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery.

You would control the product, processing and distribution

You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then?"

The American laughed and said that's the great part. "When the time is 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,

Here’s the best bit...

"Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, Maria, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

 

What a great story with loads to think about

Till next week,

Life's a journey not a destination, so enjoy what your doing

David Gardner

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