Why? Said the fisherman

A fisherman pulls up at a wharf in his little boat with a good catch of fish.

And then this big-shot businessman walks up to the fisherman and says …

“Hey mate, how long did it take you to catch those impressive looking fish?”

“About three hours” says the fisherman

“Not bad. And what do you do for the rest of the day?” Asks the businessman.

“To be honest. I live a pretty good life. I usually sleep in, go fishing for a few hours, spend some time with my family and then once or twice a week I catch up with some friends for a quiet drink”.

To which the businessman replies …

“Well, I’m a Harvard MBA and I reckon you should stay out fishing longer so you can catch more fish and make more money.

Then you can get a bigger boat, catch even more fish, and make even more money.

Eventually you’ll be able to buy a whole fleet of boats.

And then instead of selling your fish on the wharf, you could open your own processing business. You’ll be able to control the whole supply chain; catch them, process them, and then sell them to the big supermarkets.

Then, as your empire expands you could move into a penthouse apartment in the city and run your business from there.

And I reckon you could do all this in less than 20 years.”

“And then what?” enquired the fisherman.

“Then you can sell your entire company on the stock market and make squillions!” Bellowed the businessman with a big grin on his face.

“And THEN what?” enquired the fisherman.

“And then you can retire, move to a small fishing village, sleep in, fish a little, spend time with your family, and once or twice a week you could catch up with your mates for a quiet drink!”

This story is as old as Noah, but it will never go out of fashion.

What we think we need and what we want are sometimes two very different things.

So how do you work out the difference?

It’s simple. Start with what you think you need and then ask ‘why’ you need it.

For example. Let’s suppose you have this unyielding belief that you must send your children to a good school.

Why? Because you want them to get the best possible education.

Why? So they get a good start in life.

Why? So you know they’ll be ok in the future, especially when we’re not around.

Bingo! There’s your answer.

Conclusion: are there other ways to make sure your children will be ok other than just a good education?

Of course there are. There’s heaps!

Here’s my point. You can apply this simple little exercise of asking ‘why’ to anything…health, career, relationships, money, retirement, whatever.

The best bit is you only need to drill down two or three layers with ‘why’ and you’ll get your answer.

The question you start with and the answer you finish may really surprise you.

You just need to keep fishing for your real ‘why’.

Have a great weekend!

Adam