I was recently reminded of a story that the famous author Paulo Coelho had on his blog:
There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite a few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”
The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” 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 when evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”
The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“I am 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 village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”
The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king 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 after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, 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 buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”
Scaling a Career AND Having a Life
You can climb the career ladder, work long hours, lose yourself in the process, spend little time with your family and friends all so you can eventually retire to enjoy the fruits of the labor…except your kids are grown, your friends laugh over memories you were not around to be in and your youthful energy and zeal were spent working not living.
Now is the time to create memories and career success without sacrificing your life in the process.
Be like the fisherman. Meet your goals and expectations for your workday and then enjoy time with family and friends without guilt. Your Career + Life are built on these decisions.
Both will be well-served.
Try These 3 Ways to Connect with Family and Friends:
- Boundaries-Like a broken record, I am again asking you to set boundaries. This week pick a daily time you will stop working and stick to this no matter what. Then go hang out with your family/friends.
- Schedule it-We all have busy lives. Making your friends a priority requires scheduling time together. Send an email and suggest a time to meet for a walk outside this weekend.
- Use Tech-Cook a family/friend meal together via zoom. Send out the menu and schedule an online meal where you all eat the same meal together…yet apart.
We would love to hear how you made sure to work for the day AND create memories for a lifetime. Post on our Facebook page HERE.
Gordan Ramsey’s Top 5 Fish Recipes. (Chip Butty anyone?)
