A wealthy industrialist found a fisherman resting beside his boat. The fisherman explained that he had already caught enough for the day.
The industrialist urged him to catch more. Extra fish could buy a motor, then better nets, then more boats, until the fisherman owned a fleet and became rich.
The fisherman asked what he would do after becoming rich.
The industrialist said he could finally sit down and enjoy life.
The fisherman was already doing that.
Source: Anthony de Mello, “The Contented Fisherman,” The Song of the Bird, printed pp. 170-171 (PDF pp. 188-189). Retold.
What it argues
A plan can spend years acquiring permission to enjoy what was available at the beginning. Growth is useful only if the destination has not been smuggled into the present and ignored.
Use it for: ambition, enough, retirement, lifestyle design, and means becoming ends.