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 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 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?”
classic Brazilian story, probably also present in other cultures. Someone found the English version, but I could not identify the translator
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Dear Sir….its a awesome story and like it too much except the last line…………………..
“The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”
The fisherman would have smiled and said the same dialogue………………………….
very nice story made me think am I doing the ryt thing now?…
hahaha. people just take simple things in a difficult way all because of ambitions.
very nice story, thank you for sharing your writings.
A nice story
made me think
but wish life was that simple.
Its easy to read such stuff and agree with it but it is difficult to practice !!!
so gud
This one reminds me of the Alchemist. After all the journeys one undertakes, one ends up at the same point where he started and its the experiences that make one richer. That is how I interpret the businessman’s advice.
However, the fisherman is too comfortable to venture into new territory… If I was the fisherman I would take it as a sign to be a LEADER. If the fisherman ventures into new territory, he also pushes his family (more importantly, children) to rise and experience everything, the simpliciy, the competition, the materialism, to embrace change and return to the same point (to return to his roots) with a renewed spirit.The human’s soul needs to act upon the physical enviroment to unleash its higher nature.
I think interpreting this story would depend upon which stage of life each person is in.
suppose the fisherman ventures out…then what is the gaurantee that he will return and not go astray…there is a saying in hindi that “doosre ke mahal ko dekh kar koi apni jhopdi ko aag nahi laga deta”….meaning “one does not put on fire his cottage seeing other peoples palaces”….satisfaction is the key word here…once u lose it , it is very difficult to gain it again…
Very much relevant in today’s hectic lifestyle.
Teaching true life-values doesn’t get any better than this. Or more to the point. Thank you!
Time is gold. After knowing it time has past gone by the wind. Nobody can tell up to when shall we live. Only God knows. As long as we have enough time today live the most out of what’s left and make the most out of our lives. We never can tell how long shall we live here on earth. We need to maximize our energy and time while it last. Nice story. It’s an eye opener to everybody esp. to me. Thank you for sharing.
….nunca he sido una persona que vive para su retiro……”vivo como un viejo, para disfrutar de la juventud”….por muchos años………un abrazo.
what a classic :)
if we all remembered to LIVE whilst we can instead of waiting for older age to do so, many people would be more happy on this earth…
Thanks for sharing that sorty again, it’s a great reminder to live fully each day and to live what we truly want to live now, not wait till we get enough money, etc..
Live the life with liveliness………….True.
Yeah only love can buy love. Love is the greatest asset in one life’s than all that what money can buy. Lovely Story to share
plz read it …
lesson to be learnt here…. life need not be complicated….
Paulo, en Argentina tenemos el mismo cuanto pero con un Santiaguenio, Los de la provincia de Santiago, son personas catalogadas muy peresosas, y tambien pasa un Americano y lo ve descansando bajo de un arbol cuidado de sus ovejas, y le pregunta cuantas ovejas tiene y asi empieza hacerle el cuento de la corporacion hasta llegar al final. Me imagino que tambien pasa en otros paises, Somos todos uno iguales no importa de que pais seamos.Un abrazo y siga deleitandonos con sus historias.
Un relato bién acertado,se puede ser feliz con lo suficiente sin sacrificarte tanto, y sólo se vive una vez para disfrutar del tiempo que nos han regalado.
das capital!
“And after that?” :D
wow It’s wonderful. Everyone can easily live simply as a “king” just through getting a little simple “kingdom” of his own and doing things that make him HAPPY.
Amazing….thanks for this story..
En lo simple de las cosas, es donde está lo maravilloso de la vida! Gracias! Un abrazo!
Great story, great wisdom!
So great, simple and true! I like it. That is a life. :-)
live life king size without hurting urself and others
thanx again dear paulo for mkin me thoughtful .. Regards
Great story!!!!!
the business man says that once the fisherman is rich he will be able to play with the kids, but by then his kids will be adults. when your children are young they want to spend time with you, when they grow up they have their own lives to lead and keep them busy, so if you were not there for them when they wanted you may find that they are not there for you when you want. time is the one thing we have that is priceless and we seem to waste it so frivilously.if we learn to balance our lives then we can find happiness being the fisherman or the business man
There are two sides to this story
One is about being content with what you have and be happy
In fact Happiness is nothing to do with Money and Status It’s something which is there inside everyone and cannot be achieved from Outside
The other side of the story is that if everyone thinks like the fisherman then how on earth you will see development and creation of means of livelihood for so many people. But again one shall try to maintain a good balance between work and family to achieve the best in life
I look at money as very essential for good life to a Certain extent only.once you have crossed that milestone then money doesn’t hold any further value as it becomes Greed after that and in fact creates problems only
Si desafortunadamente para muchos el dinero y la popularidad entre el gremio de la riqueza, es mas importante, la enfermedad de la ambicion no deja ver que hay momentos en la vida llenos de emosiones intensas que satisfacen el alma que la mantienen feliz ,sana, la convivencia agradable entre un grupo de amigos, el vivir con tu familia escuchar sus deseos
llevar a tus hijos en cada etapa de sus vidas, y estar en presencia cuando alguien acude a tí,es algo que no siempre puede hacer esa persona enferma de poder con miedo a vivir sin dinero.
Thank you.
This story is a subtle reminder not to fall into life’s trap. Life is about growth and true progress.
The chase of success can throw us in strong and turbulent waters, where our only aim left is to survive.
Simplicity is a gentle stream towards wonderous awareness.
So true…!!!
lolzzz..
Thnx.
Awesome…Luv this story….
We shuould always be content with what we have instead of running like crazy in life!
Live life today, there might be No Tomorrow!
This is a short story of the famoous German writer Heinrich Böll from 1963.
La stupidità dell’uomo è pensare che esiste un domani e in questo accanimento irreale distrugge se stesso e quello chee lo circonda La mia famiglia è l’essere umano’ ogni mia azione è il rispetto di esso e di quello che mi circonda Baci a tutti
Though we all like such stories but had it been so easy to be content..u wouldn’t be Paulo Coelho and I, Abhilasha Tyagi
and that’s my inspiration for today……thanks.
beautiful story……simple living always gives happiness and peace of mind.
al final del dia lo mas importante es mantener la union familiar y no descuidar esos momentos que por tanto trabajar se van y tu te los pierdes…
Hi
I am one of your fan from South Asia. I really need to know a question answer from you.I want to email you and was looking for your email address but didn’t find.Messaging my email address to your facebook. I will be very glad if you send me yours.
Pompous corporate types always think that money is the key to all happiness.
Its really thoughtful.
wants are chained means to have one desire is to invite other desires,so desire will never be fulfilled and you wont be happy.its better to desire to live than to live for desires.
simple things in life is often the best, but somehow we just want to run after something so called success and we just forget to live the life we supposed to live
look
i believe that everything happens for a reoson…..
Maybe god was talking in the language of omens with the fisherman which he just denied to follow
taking the thread of the alchemist imagine the story little further that
next day the fisherman decided to stay a little longer in sea . It came to sunset the sun was sinking on horizon suddenly he saw somebody drowning he saved him and he was the buisnessman
now think
…..everything happens for a reoson
Knowing what we want in life can be simple or complicated. Our time on this beautiful planet is short. Appreciation is the key no matter what you do or where you are. Life is a gift, use it wisely…
Lovely! Key point is, just do the things that make you happy. Don’t let anyone decide things for you. :D
thanks for this great article… tells me three things:
1>that there’s a time for everything, 2>savor the moment or contentment and more importantly 3>to put your relationships on top of your priorities
let many of that lovely read come around legendary words
Another superb short story. These stories actually help you to analyze your life.
Vivo de los negocios pero los hago como el pescador.
Me interesa mi familia por eso trato de pasar el mayor tiempo posible con ellos y trabajo para mantenerlos.
Este testimonio lo hago porque pienso que hay historias que simplemente hay que vivirlas o vivirlas y esta es una de ellas. Gracias Paulo.
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