Once Upon a Business – Episode 107
The Travelers and The Sea
Lisa Bloom: Two travelers were walking along the seashore. Far ahead, they saw something riding on the waves. Look, said one. A great ship rides in from distant lands bearing rich treasures.
Hi, I’m Lisa Bloom, the story coach, and you’re listening to Once Upon a Business. In each episode we explore a story, a fairy tale, folk tale or traditional story, so that we can discover the amazing lessons relevant for business and for entrepreneurs.
The object the two travelers saw came ever nearer the shore. No, said the other, that’s not a treasure ship. That’s some fisherman’s skiff with the day’s catch of sea. Still nearer came the object. The waves washed it up on the shore. It’s a chest of gold lost from some wreck. They cried. Both travelers rushed to the beach, but there they found nothing but a water soaked log. Do not let your hopes carry you away from reality.
This is a story from Aesop’s fable. As a big dreamer, I don’t really like this story. I don’t want the warning that I should not dream, nor let my hopes take me away from reality. In fact, the opposite. I live with the desire that my hopes and dreams will become reality. So this is definitely not my favorite story. However, I do think there’s an important lesson here for business, or maybe even a few. The story hits hard because it’s about seeing what you want to see instead of what’s real. The travelers, full of hope and ambition, mistake the drifting log for riches, each projecting their fantasies of success onto it. One dreams of exotic riches, the other practical gains. Neither pauses to truly see what’s in front of them.
In business and life, how often do we chase after illusions, perfect clients, game changing deals, or overnight success? We get swept up in what could be and miss the warning signs of what actually is. The log, soaked and useless, is the ultimate reality check. It’s a reminder that not every opportunity is what it seems. And getting carried away by assumptions can lead to wasted energy and disappointment. I’ve definitely experienced that feeling that the next big thing will be the game changer or the magical tipping point. Whether it was getting my list to a thousand and then five thousand and then ten thousand, or getting on one speaking stage or another, only to find that it was never one thing, not one chest of riches, but instead constantly taking action, taking risks and working hard that made things happen in my business.
This story also reminds me of another story, a story that Byron Katie tells. She said that she was walking in the desert near her home one day, and up ahead on the path she saw a huge rattlesnake spread right across the path and immediately went into quite a panic. She froze. She was sweating. She felt ill. She didn’t know what to do. But then when she looked again as she got closer, she saw that it wasn’t a rattlesnake. In fact, it was a log lying on the path. And what Katie says is that once you see the log, you can’t ever believe it’s a snake anymore. It’s just not possible.
And I love this lesson for life and for business too. You see, once we see what’s in front of us is not scary, it’s just a log, then we simply can’t be scared anymore. When we take on that big business risk or we do something that feels really scary, we usually find out that it’s not as bad as thought it would be. In fact, it’s never as bad as our thinking and our fear about it before we do it. That’s true of reaching out to talk to prospects or getting on the stage in front of an audience, especially if we have a good story to tell.
Summing up, I guess it’s really about balance, about finding the space for dreaming, imagining and hoping, while also noticing what’s in front of you, the good and the bad, the opportunities and the risks, and remembering that the story we tell will always create the reality we live. So let’s make sure that the story is a really good one.
I’m Lisa Bloom, and you’ve been listening to Once Upon a Business. You can find out more about me at story-coach.com. That’s story-coach.com. Once Upon a Business is part of the Mirasee FM Podcast Network, which also includes such shows as Course Lab. To catch the great episodes that are coming up on Once Upon a Business, please like and follow us on Mirasee FM’s YouTube channel or your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a star to review. It’s the best way to help us get these ideas to more people. Thank you. We’ll see you next time.