Success
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Back to the blog: one of my favorite stories about success is about an tourist that came to the Costa Rican province of Limon and got stressed at the attitude of the people who lived there. To give a little context, Limon is a province in Costa Rica that historically was where the entry point of African and Caribbean black slaves, they were not allowed to get to the rest of the country since they were only allowed to live and work in that area of the country which divided the population later when slavery was abolished into a mostly black community and a mostly latin-american part of the country. The black culture of Limon manifests as soon as you get there, it is a very easy going, slower culture and some people from Costa Rica and abroad do not mix well with this more relaxed way of living.
So the story about what "success" is goes something like this:
A successful American tourist came to Limon for a couple of weeks to retreat from work, being an absolute workaholic, he kept going every morning after breakfast to the beach front of the hotels restaurant to work on his computer. Every morning as he worked, he saw this black surfer laying on his hammock besides his board just enjoying the view and the sun. The American started to get a little annoyed because of the non-productive and laid back way of this man to manage his time. So much so, that on the last day of vacations he decided to confront this man.
"what are you doing? - I am enjoying the view - why are you not working? - what for? - to get a better job - what for? - to have a greater income - what for? - to save up for your life dreams - what for? - So that you can buy a nice house and a car and be successful - what for? - to enjoy your vacation LIKE ME in an expensive hotel with all the luxuries and nice view!" The man stood up and for the first time confronted the tourist. "you see, I teach surfing to tourists and anyone who wants to learn, I make enough to take care of myself and my daughter, and here you come with you life story of stressing about work and savings and life dreams and cars and houses and 5 star hotels... And in the end we both ended up with the same view. The only difference is, I am glad to be where I am and I enjoy the view, so I invite you to join me and appreciate where you are at today".
So the story about what "success" is goes something like this:
A successful American tourist came to Limon for a couple of weeks to retreat from work, being an absolute workaholic, he kept going every morning after breakfast to the beach front of the hotels restaurant to work on his computer. Every morning as he worked, he saw this black surfer laying on his hammock besides his board just enjoying the view and the sun. The American started to get a little annoyed because of the non-productive and laid back way of this man to manage his time. So much so, that on the last day of vacations he decided to confront this man.
"what are you doing? - I am enjoying the view - why are you not working? - what for? - to get a better job - what for? - to have a greater income - what for? - to save up for your life dreams - what for? - So that you can buy a nice house and a car and be successful - what for? - to enjoy your vacation LIKE ME in an expensive hotel with all the luxuries and nice view!" The man stood up and for the first time confronted the tourist. "you see, I teach surfing to tourists and anyone who wants to learn, I make enough to take care of myself and my daughter, and here you come with you life story of stressing about work and savings and life dreams and cars and houses and 5 star hotels... And in the end we both ended up with the same view. The only difference is, I am glad to be where I am and I enjoy the view, so I invite you to join me and appreciate where you are at today".
