Do you want to catch the big fish?

This is the story that started the “be more with less” movement for me. While I knew all work and no play wasn’t the way, I thought I would forever be stuck in the cycle of working to live. I thought I would always have a car payment, credit card debt and not enough month at the end of the money. I thought I had to work harder to make more, buy more and have more. At one time, I really thought that would make me better somehow.

This story is my inspiration to slow down, reassess, and get real about how I want to live life.

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 yellowfin 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 needs. The 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 siestas 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 distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, 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?” Asked the Mexican.

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 siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

---

This story was read to me by the owner of the healing center in Thailand when I asked him what he would recommend to prevent a burnout in the future. While hearing this story, I felt the shivers go down on my back, which were followed by a big smile on my face. Because I had missed this pure smile, I promised myself to wake up for the rest of my life with this wonderful smile.

In order to make this promise possible to myself, I asked myself the question "What moments in life really made me happy ?!" Moments in which I really acted from my passion and happiness? Moments that stopped time and really came from my heart? Many of these moments certainly played off at Techtwo, but then when Techtwo was still nice and small, young and mischievous. The time that we were inventing Techtwo in a creative way. I also noticed that my passion is about conveying knowledge or helping people.

All in all, the burnout and the recovery trajectory in Thailand had a lot of impact on me and made me think well, which made me decide to leave service at Techtwo. I want to realize a new dream to allow people to enjoy their pure smile before they are hit by a burnout. In a month I will leave for Bali, to develop myself further and to work out my new dream concept in peace. With this I hope to inspire people and companies and give them insights into a more relaxed and conscious way of living, with a pure smile!