Ro's Recz

The Mexican Fisherman story is a great parable I heard recently. I came across it recently on the YouTube Channel Better than Yesterday, which I consider one of the best channels to watch in my spare time. I previously recommended a previous video of Better than Yesterday called “Use Laziness to Your Advantage – The 20 Second Rule”, and I think all of their videos are great.

I personally found the Mexican Fisherman story very relevant because it talks about business and how it relates to life. Basically, the Mexican Fisherman story talks about a fisherman in a small countryside town in Mexico who runs into a Harvard MBA Businessman.

In the story, the fisherman talks about his daily routine, and how he goes out fishing each day on his small boat to provide enough fish for his family. His fishing haul is enough to take care of his family, and it means that he does not have to have any other job to take care of his basic necessities. Also, it gives him time to spend with his friends and family whenever he is not fishing.

When the Harvard MBA Businessman comes though, he asks the fisherman why he limits himself to only a couple of fish a day and a small boat. The businessman recommends that the fisherman buy a bigger boat, catch more fish, and start a company to start generating more profits. The fisherman is curious, so he asks the businessman what he would do with this newfound money. The businessman tells the fisherman that he could continue to grow this company and before cashing out and retiring; the fisherman then asks the businessman what he should do once he retires. The businessman answers by saying that he could move to a nice village, where he would have plenty of time to spend with his family, and do activities he enjoys such as fishing. The moral of the story is that the fisherman would be putting in years of work to save enough money to live the life he already currently enjoys.

I personally found the story very relevant to my own life because money is a highly valued part of society. However, once you acquire a certain amount of money, you will most likely have enough to try and do things you enjoy. Anything past this amount is just surplus, so it might not be worth spending years and years of hard work to try and gain something you already have the means to afford. You can check out the full video with a more detailed description and animations here!