Recently, i was invited to speak to a group of
young professionals who were being
inducted to begin working with the Tana River County Government, my main topic
was on saving and investment and so i thought it wise to share with them what the
jews
teach their children about money, a model which i have been an ardent
student and teacher of, i shared with them a story called The Parable of the
Pipeline which was publisehed in a book written by Buke Hedges....Here is the
story
“Once upon a time long, long ago, two ambitious
young cousins named Pablo and Bruno lived side by side in a small Italian
village. The young men were best buddies, and big dreamers. They would talk endlessly about how someday,
someway, they would become the richest men in the village. They were both
bright and hard working. All they needed was an opportunity. One day that opportunity arrived. The village
decided to hire two men to carry water from a nearby river to a cistern in the
town square. The job went to Pabloand Bruno. Each man grabbed two buckets and headed to the river. By the end of the
day, they had filled the town cistern
to the brim. The village elder paid them one penny for each bucket of
water."This is our dream come true! "Shouted Bruno. "I can't
believe our good fortune."But Pablo wasn't so sure. His back ached and his
hands were blistered from carrying the heavy buckets. He dreaded getting up and
going to work the next morning. He vowed to think of a better way to get the
water from the river to the village.
Pablo The Pipeline Man:
"Bruno, I have a
plan," Pablo said the next morning as they grabbed theirbuckets and headed for the river. "Instead of
lugging buckets back and forth for pennies a day, let's build a pipeline from
the village to the river."Bruno stopped dead in his tracks."A
pipeline! Whoever heard of such a thing?" Bruno shouted. "We've got a
great job, Pablo. I can carry 100
buckets a day. At a penny a bucket that's a dollar a day! I'm rich!. By
the end of the week, I can buy a new pair of shoes. By the end of the month a
cow. By the end of six months I can buy a new hut. We have the best job intown and off and two weeks paid vacation every year. We're
set for life! Get out of here with your pipeline."But Pablo was not
easily discouraged. He patiently explained the pipeline plan to his best friend. Pablo would work part of the day
carrying buckets, and part of the day and weekends building his pipeline.
He knew it would be hard work digging a ditch in the rocky soil. Because he was
paid by the bucket he knew his income would drop. He also knew it might take a year
or two before his pipeline would pay off. But Pablo believed in his dream and he
went to work.
Bruno and the rest of the
villagers began mocking Pablo, calling him "Pablo ThePipeline Man." Bruno,
who was earning almost twice the money as Pablo,flaunted his new purchases. Which he kept parked
outside his new two-story hut. He bought flashy clothes
and fancy meals at the inn. The villagers called him Mr. Bruno
Small Actions Equal Big Results:
While Bruno lay in his hammock
on evenings and weekends, Pablo kept digging his
pipeline. The first few months Pablo didn't have much to show for his efforts. The work was hard, even harder than Bruno's
because Pablo was working evenings and weekends too. But Pablo kept
reminding himself that tomorrow’s dreams
are built on today’ssacrifices. Day by day he dug, inch by inch. Inches turned into one foot........... then ten
feet............ then 20............. then100."Short-term pain equals
long-term gain," he reminded himself as he stumbled into his hut after
another exhausting day's work. "In time my reward will exceed my
efforts," he thought."Keep your eyes on the prize," he kept
thinking as he drifted off to sleep with the sounds of laughter from the
village tavern in the background.
The Tables Are Turned:
Days turned into months..Finally Pablo's big day arrived, his pipeline was
complete! The villagers crowded around as
the water gushed from the pipeline into the village cistern! Now that the village had a steady supply of fresh water,
people from around the country side moved into the village and the
village prospered. Once the pipeline was complete, Pablo didn't have to carry
buckets anymore. But Bruno was rendered jobless immediately. The water flowed
whether he worked or not. It flowed while he ate. It flowed while he played, it
flowed while he was asleep. Pablo the pipeline man was now Pablo the Miracle
man.
This cute story illustrates why we gravitate to
bucket carrying jobs.It reminds me of a car bumper sticker I saw recently: A million people can't be wrong! People
think the same about bucket carrying - A million bucket carriers can't be
wrong! Well, yes they can! Let's face it; there are a lot more bucket carriers
in this world than there are pipeline builders. Why? Because bucket carrying is
the model that our parents followed and the one it taught us to follow.
The bucket-carrying model tells you that in a
bucket carrying world, here's what you have to do to get ahead:Go to bucket
school and learn how to carry buckets. Work really hard. Earn the right to
carry bigger buckets. Resign from Bucket Company A to work for Bucket
Company B, which lets you carry even bigger buckets. Work long hours so
that you can carry even more buckets. Put your children through bucket carrying
college. Change careers from carrying metal buckets to carrying plastic buckets
... to carrying digital buckets. Dream of the day you can retire from bucket
carrying. Until then, keep on carrying those buckets ... !!
So what do bucket carriers do when they need more
money? Because they have a bucket carrying mentality, they come up with a
bucket carrying solution - if you need more money, you've simply got to carry
more buckets. Bucket carriers reason that bigger buckets mean bigger paychecks.
So bucket carriers tell themselves that everything is okay if they could just
get a job carrying bigger buckets.
So, today, think about your future, think about
what will happen when you have no more energy to carry buckets...you can visit
my blog Stars of the future
and learn about more articles incuding why
i stoped lending money to my friends which generated a record readership.
You can also drop an email on zaxmwema@gmail.com
or visit our facebook page
Stars of the Future to interact with more like minded people.
