Do you know the story of the businessman and the fisherman? This is one of my favourite stories to illustrate how we view working ‘hard’ and how there is another way to view the lives we create. This is how it goes:
One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching some fish.
A businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing, rather than working harder to make a living for himself and his family.
“You aren’t going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman to the fisherman.“You should be working rather than lying on the beach!”
The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled, and replied,
“And what will my reward be?”
“Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer.
“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling.
The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!”
“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again.
The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!” he said.
“And then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman.
By this point, the businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world and let all your employees catch fish for you!”
Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?”
The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again? You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!”
The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “And what do you think I’m doing right now?”
What do you think the moral of this story is?
Of course, nobody is saying you should give it all up, live by the sea and do nothing. However, it does shed light on a common belief that in order to be successful, we need to work “hard”.
That is usually the case when you don’t enjoy what you do.
If you are honest, you actually want to do something completely different!
Through that, what you might not realise is that your mind is very busy and you therefore see everything you do as a challenge.
The truth is: when you have an overwhelmed feeling, you have overwhelmed thinking.
You think about everything you need to do in the future, in this moment right now.
Conversely, when you are in the flow, don’t you find your work easier and actually that it turns out to be more fun?
Try asking yourself: what do you like to create and how can you make that fun?
Now I know sometimes things just need to get done, but how can you approach them in a way that is more fun for you?
Often we sit in front of something we “need” to do and find ourselves procrastinating. It takes us days until we finally do it! We have a lot of thoughts about it, but when we actually go and do it, we find it wasn’t that bad at all.
My question to you is: how can you bring the feeling of a relaxed day by the beach into your working life? You work so hard, but at the end of the day, what is it for? So why not find a way to create your everyday life like a day by the beach?
Enjoy every moment, because life is shorter than you think. Make it fun, make it yours, whatever it is you want to create.