Fat Guy decides to run triathlon; nearly dies just thinking about it.

An invitation to join me on my latest adventure: Fat Triathlon.

I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday -- read more about it here -- and I've decided to finally do what I've said I've wanted to do for several years now -- run a triathlon (Well, swim-bike-run a triathlon).

I know it's the right move because, as soon as I committed to it, I felt a deep terror. Usually a good sign that you're challenging yourself and growing. My idea is to use Fat Triathlon as a sort of online public accountability system, uploading photos, progress, training results, etc. For me, I know this vastly increases my chances of success.

So come along and join me on my latest adventure at Fat Triathlon.

Why the Mexican Fisherman isn't all right and the MBA isn't all wrong

This past Sunday at church, our pastor was talking about the need to slow down and quell our addiction to hurry. He told a story you might be familiar with -- the Mexican fisherman who is approached by an American businessman who tries to convince the fisherman to expand his humble living into a multi-national empire. The moral of the story is, in my view, know what you are looking for because you may have already found it. Here is the story if you've never heard it.

I like this story because it reminds me that bigger isn't always better and that there is much to be said for being content with your current circumstances instead of indulging envy, greed, and the insatiable desire for more. That said, I've been thinking more about this story and why, to me, the businessman wasn't totally misguided.

I say all this not to judge those who have chosen the life of the fisherman instead of the life of the businessman but rather to make a defense for why I see my career trajectory as that of the businessman. The fisherman isn't incontrovertibly right. I have a few problems with his philosophy.

• The Fisherman Must Work



No matter the day, no matter the weather, no matter the circumstance: the fisherman must rise, launch his boat, and fish. Said another way, his ability to catch fish is his only significant asset. This might be fine if he wants to fish everyday for the rest of his life and all goes well.

But most of us know all to well that life doesn't always go well. What if he breaks his arm fishing today? How will his family eat tomorrow? What if his son Pele has a soccer game this afternoon but he hasn't caught his requisite 5 fishes for the day? Therefore, the one who lives the simple life also has less flexibility and less freedom.



• The Fisherman Has No Inheritance



The less complimentary view of the fisherman is that he lives for today. He fishes for today, he stores up little for the future (we can assume). He has no inheritance. He leaves nothing for his children besides fond memories.



• The Fisherman Has No Influence



By choosing to keep his enterprise small, he is also choosing not to grow. This means saying "no" to opportunities that might have been beneficial to his life, his family, his community, and his legacy. If he is approached by a fellow fisherman who wants to partner, he says "No." If he has the opportunity to franchise his patented method of fishing he says "No." He is a simple man. Fishing for today is enough. So he says "no" to expanding his influence.

He says "No" to creating jobs -- by having more work than he could handle alone, he would need to hire workers and therefore give them an opportunity to provide for their families as well. I work for a small business owner -- I, for one, am grateful that 10 years ago he didn't say, "You know, I'll just keep this business small, I have enough to provide for my family." It's a paradigm shift, isn't it?



• The Fisherman Limits His Family Tree



We know from the story that the fisherman has "children" and that he enjoys playing with them. Devil's Advocate here -- if he enjoys 2 kids, would he enjoy 3 kids? How about 5? 8? This is not to say that each parent should have double-digit offspring. Rather, it is a point about how the fisherman (and many Americans) chooses how many children to have. Say his wife Maria comes up to him and says, "I've been thinking about more kids." What does the fisherman say? At some point the question of how many more fish he will need to catch to feed additional mouths will come up.

The fisherman might be fine with increasing his output on an as needed basis, but what if he already had the resources to afford more kids already? He doesn't, because he's chosen to work just enough.

When I think about the fisherman, I admire his contentment and I believe there is a place for that in anyone's life. But I think it is a mistake to think that the desire for more is always rooted in greed, envy, or discontent.

For me, my desire for more is rooted in a desire to have the freedom and flexibility to spend time on what is truly important, to build a long lasting legacy, to leave an inheritance for my kids, to expand my influence in my family and my community, to grow my family tree and change what the future generations look like.

I don't think my desires are congruent with a simple "fish for one day" kind of life. That is ok with me. It is also fine by me if other people's goals are congruent with a simple life. There is room for everyone, but we need to be careful not to judge others for having different goals than our own.