Success
Illustration★★★★A fisherman was lying on a New England river bank, lazily casting his line into the water. Now and then, he caught a sil- very salmon.
As he was hauling in a fish, a prosperously dressed businessman from a nearby town strolled over. “Don’t you realize,” he asked the fisherman, “that you could catch more fish if you put several lines into the water at the same time?”
“Why would I want more fish?” asked the fisherman. “Well, if you had more fish, you would have more to sell, and you would make more money,” the industrialist replied.
“And if you made more money, you could buy a big fishing boat. Then you could open up a store and sell your fish to the whole town.
After you opened one store, you could open a second, and then a third. You would have many people working for you. Eventually you could open a large wholesale fish market, shipping fish all over America. You could become a very rich ” man.
The fisherman looked unconvinced. “And then what would I do?” he asked the industrialist.
“Why, then you would be successful, and you’d have all the time in the world to do whatever you most enjoyed doing. You could just lie on your back, relax, and go fishing!” The fisherman looked up at him and smiled. “But that’s what I’m doing now!” —Hyatt, C. and Gottlieb, L., “When Smart People Fail.”
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Matthew 16:26). “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34).
The point
A businessman tries to convince a content fisherman he needs ambition and wealth, not realizing the fisherman already achieves the ultimate goal the businessman is pursuing.