A shark in your tank!

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the water close to Japan has not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring the fish. If the return trip took more time, the fish were not fresh.

To solve this problem, fish companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish. And they did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, they were tired, dull, and lost their fresh-fish taste. The fishing industry faced an impending crisis!

But today, they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan. How did they manage? To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks but with a small shark.

The fish are challenged and hence are constantly on the move. The challenge they face keeps them alive and fresh!

Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull? Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active. If you are steadily conquering challenges, you are happy. Your challenges keep you energized. Don't create success and revel in it in a state of inertia. You have the resources, skills and abilities to make a difference. Put a shark in your tank and see how far you can really go!

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character" - Albert Einstein

Courtesy:

Phew! This is really the hard part. As I was stumbling around, I came across this beautiful passage and wanted to share it. I started searching around to validate the source of this write-up, but could only find blogs and other websites sharing just as I do. At best, someone has attributed it to a forwarded mail. It really frustrates me to be unable to mention the source of something so strikingly motivational.

In the best of fairness, I am linking it to the blog I read this first at. Thanks, Deven.

In my search for the origins, I enjoyed Deven’s blog, especially the words of wisdom in his profile and, Shekhar Kapur’s blog.

This inspirational passage also reminded me of another motivational piece about the Lion & the gazelle.