Millions of students graduate every year all over the world from their respective universities and if you ask them a question, what would you choose fish or a fishing rod? The answer is instantly the fish. The fish is here a metaphor of money, jobs, security etc and the fishing rod is businesses and institutes that bring money in every day. In other words, fishing rod feeds the people for life time and not for a day or two. Fish is not everything, fishing rod is everything.
Learn to see the big forest than a single tree.
People are highly qualified academically yet they don't make a correct choice. After graduating from the university, the students look only a particular apple tree and they miss to see the whole forest. They want money but they don't want things that could produce more money for lifetime. They see the short and immediate desires than the delayed needs.
Many conform rather than to think for themselves.
Immediately after the graduation, the students conform to the world of seeking jobs or work for money. Of course, the schools and colleges don't teach students to think independently rather they train them to conform to uniformity that is why schools and colleges insist upon wearing uniform or dress code for students. The students learn nothing more than conforming to their peers and the world. A person who thinks for himself may not conform to the world instead he will chart out his own course but according to conventional wisdom, he would be considered crazy.
The role models to emulate.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are the real role models who didn't conform to the conventional world rather they thought for themselves and because of their unconventional thinking they are shining in the world today. They have created a new world, a new history and a new standard of living and achieving one's goals. People shouldn't conform to the world blindly just because others do so. They must pursue their own goals and interests than working to buy the fish. They must work to get the fishing rod than the fish. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and many others, didn't give in for fish instead they chose acquire the fishing rod. That has made a big difference today in their life.
Aim to acquire the fishing rod than fish.
If you acquire the fishing rod, you can feed yourself for months and years but if you aim to have only the fish, you will have only for a day. It is not a good choice in this present world where the rules of fishing and eating fish have gone a drastic change. There is a great advantage for those who want to acquire the fishing rod. You can choose the entrepreneurial path to take care of yourself and your family and others financially through out the years.
The fish may not be the best choice today.
Many parents insist their children to go to school so that they can get good jobs and earn good money and the children follow the same thing even after finishing the university. In the information age, fish is not the best choice today; the earned income from the job may not be sufficient to run the family today. The recent recession has hit very hard those people who look for only fish, who work for the earned income. There is a great danger in working for money.
Look for assets that will put money in your pocket.
People work at jobs and get paid for their labour, energy, time and service. They don't work for the assets that could bring money in their pocket. Those who didn't work for the assets that bring cash flow in the pocket are bleeding today because of the recession all over the world. They are still today looking for jobs to pay back the debts and feed their families.
If students and adults learn the difference between the fish and the fishing rod, assets that bring cash in and the liability that takes money out of pocket and the business that earns profits and jobs that bring earned income. It is a sad choice the young people are making today everyday. They lack guidance, wisdom, information and experience. They are wrongly conditioned and programmed. Teach yourself to choose the fishing rod than the fish. Choose fortunes rather than a living. Choose assets than liabilities. Choose businesses than jobs.
Alwed Ekka
Guide Coach Mentor
