🦾 The businessman and the fisherman

Jul 23, 2023

Melius Humano,

Life is as simple, complicated, hard, or easy as you make it.

The Stoics figured this out a long time ago.

And it’s no coincidence that Stoics have made a comeback in the last 20 years as our lives have become more connected, more complex, more opportunity-and-distinction rich, and more centralized.

More and more people are coming out of the “Matrix” and returning to the basics of being human.

This usually includes nature, community, and a slower pace of life.

It’s so ironic because I know I’m falling into the trap so clearly illustrated. by the Paulo Coelho parable of the businessman and the fisherman:

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.
As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”
The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”
The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish.
Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”
The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”.

My goal is to reach financial freedom so I can opt out of society and build a life based on what I think will bring long-term happiness, health, and fulfillment.

But what if I earn enough to do that and don’t follow through with the plan?

Many, many, many business owners with large exits end up starting new (or multiple) companies. They don’t need to, they just don’t know what else to do with themselves.

They try the rich and bored thing for a while, realize it’s not fun, and then return to what they know: building stuff.

I don’t want to fall into that trap.

But I also don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking I’ll be set once I make X because X, from what I’ve seen, can easily get pushed back and up.

$1,000,000 turns into $3,000,000
$5,000,000 becomes $10,000,000
$10,000,000 becomes $50,000,000

I’ve even heard of $100 millionaires who feel like they don’t have enough. Really?

No. That is failure, in my mind. If you are so attached to “needing” some large number that you never get out of the prison you’ve created for yourself, then you are not living successfully.

I’ve thought about this for years—what will I do when I make it?

I also regularly think: What would I do if I had a billion dollars? How would I live? Who would I hang out with? What would I build, invest in, etc?

At this point, I’ve somewhat clarified the vision, whereas before it was just ‘make a lot of money and live off investment income.’

What is “a lot”?
What is “live off”?

Now the vision includes some combination of the following:

Live in nature, ideally with other like-minded people who value community, health, and a slower pace of life.
Work ~4 hours a day because I want to—advise founders, manage investments, record podcast interviews, write, read, think, and continually help others opt out of our profoundly sick society.
Travel strategically (long, slow travel vs short term travel)
Build things with my hands.
Grow and raise my food.
Have lots of kids and grandkids
Spend lots of time with a small group rather than little bits of time with many people.

I need a certain amount of money and income to do this.

But my analytical brain knows I don’t.

I could wrangle up 3–5 families and get a plot somewhere tomorrow if I wanted to. There are even places where it would be cheaper to live on lots of land than it is to live in Austin, Texas.

I could work less tomorrow and still be fine.

So why not? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Community, society, people

I’ve been feeling more and more like I want something different. I’ve felt the lack of adult friendships and community for a while, especially since having kids.

But then the hard part is finding others who feel the same. Everyone is caught up in their own lives, struggles, and perspectives.

On that note, I’ve noticed more and more people becoming what I call “perpetually single.”

I know a lot of smart, healthy, and good looking humans that struggle to find a mate in a place like Austin, Texas, where 150+ smart, healthy, and good-looking people move daily.

Why?

Modern dating? Lack of self-awareness? The culture wars? Gender roles? Porn? Only Fans? Not knowing who they are and what they want?

Probably some combination of it all?

Distractions → The drug of Modernity

I think those of us living in rich America are trying to fill the gaps that our modern way of life creates with distractions.

That’s it in a nutshell.

It’s a constant and never-ending attempt to numb ourselves with externals.

I notice it in myself when I have a lot to do. I feel motivated and hungry. Then I get a lot done, things slow down, and I feel some combination of nihilism and existential crisis.

Absolutely insane.

Seriously.

Hopefully, that opens some doors of awareness that you can venture through in your own life.

I’m not going to presume that I know the answer to all this, but I do know some of the basics based on being a human, and so I’m going to focus on those.

-Colin ← Join me on Twitter

🔗 Useful Shit

🥩 Yes2Meat Newsletter → Now sending weekly

→ Meat, Health, Regenerative Ag, Research, Nutrition, Life
#1 🥩 The Yes2Meat Newsletter Launch
#2 🥩 The Natural human Diet
#3 🥩 RDA protein requirements? (Y2M)
#4 🥩 Plants: harmful or helpful?
#5 🥩 Food Myths: Plant protein vs animal protein
#6 🥩 Part 1: Unraveling the mysteries of meat

🐂 “Can I have Noble?” → My kids now that they get chocolate in raw milk.

DELICIOUS ALL-IN-ONE ANIMAL-BASED NUTRITION WITH ORGANS AND 21g OF PROTEIN PER SERVING.

Try the delicious chocolate or vanilla, featuring 30x 21-gram servings per bag. We also have a complex organ blend that you can use to boost your smoothies, shakes, and recipes.

🔥 FREE BAG OF ORGANS ($40 value) with every $50+ purchase + free shipping: CODE: BHFREEORGANS 🥩

Support my work and keep me investing time and energy here so you can keep filling your mind 🦾 $1 per email →

I’m Colin. Father, Thinker, Entrepreneur, and investor I believe in Free Thinking, Free Humans, and Free Markets. The world needs MORE BETTER HUMANS. That’s our only hope for a prosperous future. Read more of my philosophy. 👋 Join me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, My articles

Useful

🦌 What you put in your body either improves your health or takes away from it. Obsessively sourced premium foods and supplements by Wild Foods. Use code WILDCEO for 15% off
Noble Origins nose-to-tail nutrition in the simplest, most delicious way possible. Use code BetterHuman
RED LIGHT THERAPY → Pain. Mood. Sleep. Health. Recovery. Weight loss. Hair growth. Fatigue. Energy Improve it all with red light… and 20 mins a day is all you need. Check out the models here!
Wild Gut Health Guide. Actionable routines you can implement immediately.
Fulvic Acid Minerals - Gut health and nature’s most potent antioxidant
Oxy-Mag: Oxygen/Magnesium blend for health, recovery and performance
Wild CocoTropic - Mushroom-cocoa mix to replace or boost coffee
Wild Collagen - Grass-fed collagen for bone, skin, hair, and nails
Wild Fish Oil - Wild-caught fish oil for health. Liquid version here
🤖 ✍🏻 My favorite AI writer is Writesonic.
🦢 Swan Bitcoin is how I buy Bitcoin daily. Set it and forget it. Then wake up in a few years and be happy.
🖥️ I can help you automate and scale your business. If you’re a small business owner (or looking to get started), reply to this email to set up a discovery call.
Why You Wrong NL/POD (new project) → #1 You Think The Rich "Cheat" Taxes - Why You Wrong

Better Human by Colin Stuckert

Discussion about this post