po10shall - Certified Personal Performance Coaching

As  Christmas trees are advertised I am reflecting on 2007 and realising I have learnt so much.   I have successfully coached business start-ups and  individuals on career and life paths  - I have moved house twice - to rented and out again. Changed areas, kids schools,  lifestyle, filled and painted windows, volunteered for a local special needs teaching course, started a painting class      What have I learnt?  To slow down! I also gained much from a story Peter Thomson sent me about the Mexican Boatman………An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.”The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needsThe American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery.You would control the product, processing and distributionYou would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”“But what then?”The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”“Millions. Then what?”The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, Maria, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”     

 Peter used this story to become more efficient with his time, he realised some of his goals had already been achieved and now challenges himself to earn the same amount but with  extra holiday each new year.  I used this story to realise that I am a little like the American.   As Ken Blanchard says in “putting the One minute Manager to work”  we spend all our time looking for another management concept and very little time following up the one we have just developed.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Life!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.