The
Parable Of The Pipeline
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 Pablo and 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 their buckets 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 in town. We have weekends 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 The Pipeline Man." Bruno, who was
earning almost twice the money as Pablo,flaunted his new purchases. He
bought a donkey outfitted with a new leather saddle, 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, and they cheered when he bought rounds at
the tavern and laughed loudly at his jokes.
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’s sacrifices. Day by day he dug, inch
by inch.
Inches turned into one
foot........... then ten feet............ then 20............. then 100.
"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. One day
Pablo realized his pipeline was half-way finished, which meant he only had
to walk half as far to fill his buckets! Pablo used the extra time to work on his
pipeline.
During his rest breaks, Pablo
watched his old friend Bruno lug buckets. Bruno's shoulders were more stooped than
ever. He was hunched in pain, his steps slowed by the daily grind. Bruno
was angry and sullen, resenting the fact that he was doomed to carry buckets, day
in, day out, for the rest of his life.
He began to spend less time in his
hammock and more time in the tavern. When the tavern's patrons saw Bruno
coming they'd whisper, "Here comes Bruno the Bucket Man, " and they giggle
when the town drunk mimicked Bruno's stooped posture and shuffling gait. Bruno
didn't buy rounds or tell jokes anymore,
preferring to sit alone in a dark
corner surrounded by empty bottles.
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 countryside moved into the village
and the village prospered.
Once the pipeline was complete,
Pablo didn't have to carry buckets anymore. The water flowed whether he worked or
not. It flowed while he ate. It flowed while he slept. It flowed on weekends while
he played. The more the water flowed into the village, the more money flowed into
Pablo's pockets!
Pablo the Pipeline Man became known
as “Pablo the Miracle Maker”. But Pablo understood what he did wasn't a
miracle. It was merely the first stage of a big, big dream. You see, Pablo had
bigger plans. Pablo planned on building pipelines all over the world!.
Recruiting His Friend To Help:
The pipeline drove "Bruno The
Bucket Man" out of business, and it pained Pablo to see his old friend begging for
drinks at the tavern. So, Pablo arranged a meeting with his old friend.
"Bruno, I've come here to ask
you for your help." Bruno straightened his stooped shoulders, and his dark eyes
narrowed to a squint. "Don't mock me," Bruno hissed.
"I haven't come here to
gloat," said Pablo. "I've come here to offer you a great business opportunity. It took me
more than two years before my first pipeline was complete. But I've learned a
lot during those two years. I know what tools to use now, and where to dig. I know
where to lay the pipe. I kept notes as I went along so now I have a system that will
allow me to build another pipeline in less time........... then
another...........then another.
I could build a pipeline a year by
myself, but what I plan on doing is teach you how to build a pipeline, then have
you teach others and have them teach others.
"Just think, we could make a
small percentage of every gallon of water that goes through those pipelines."
Bruno finally saw the big picture.
They shook hands and hugged like old friends.
Pipeline Dreams In A
Bucket-Carrying World:
Years passed. Their world pipelines
were pumping millions of dollars into their bank accounts. Sometimes on their
trips through the countryside, Pablo and Bruno would pass villagers from
other villages carrying buckets.
The friends would pull over and
tell them their story and offer to help them build a pipeline. But sadly, most bucket
carriers would hastily dismiss the notion.
"I don't have the time."
"My friend told me he knew a friend
who's uncle's best friend tried to build a pipeline and failed."
"Only the ones who get in early make
money on a pipeline."
"I've carried buckets my whole life,
I'll stick to what I know."
"I know people who lost money in a
pipeline scam."
Both men resigned themselves to the
fact they lived in a world with a bucket-carrying mentality............. and
only a very small percentage of people would ever see the vision.
End Of Story
WE LIVE IN A
BUCKET-CARRYING WORLD
Who are you? A
bucket-carrier............ or a pipeline builder? Do you get paid only when you show up for work like
Bruno the Bucket Carrier?
Or do you do the work once and get
paid over and over again like Pablo the Pipeline Builder?
If you're like most people, you're
working the bucket-carrying plan. It's the time for-money-trap.
The problem with bucket carrying is
that the money stops when the bucket carrying stops. Which means the concept of a
"secure job" or "dream job" is an illusion. The inherent danger of
carrying buckets is that the income is temporary instead of ongoing.
If Bruno woke up one morning with a
stiff back and couldn't get out of bed, how much money would he earn that day?
ZERO! No Work-No Money!
The same goes for any
bucket-carrying job. Once bucket-carriers stop carrying buckets for any reason, they won't
continue to get a paycheck.
Real-Life True Story:
There was this one of the great
dentists in America. A complete professional.
Great personality. Great
technician. Every visit was virtually pain-free. She loved what she did and set her own hours.
She was only open three days a week so she could spend four-day weekends
with her family.
She pulled down more than $100,000
a year working three days a week at a job she loved. This was a
bucket-carriers dream job if there ever was one!
One problem. Before the age of 40
she developed arthritis in her hands and couldn't work anymore. Today she
teaches at a university earning one-third the income she earned as a dentist.
There's no such thing as a secure
bucket-carrying job no matter how great it seems.
The problem with the time-for-money
trap is that if you can no longer trade-the time,you no longer get the money!
Most people mistake bucket-carrying
for pipeline building. We observe 99% of the people in the world are
carrying buckets, so we assume bucket carrying is the way to get what we want in
life.
We grow up surrounded by bucket-carriers,
so we figure that's the way of the world. It reminds me of a bumper
sticker I saw recently: “100,000 lemmings
can't be
wrong!”
People think the same way about
bucket-carriers. 100 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 pipeline builders.
Why?
Because bucket-carrying is the
model that our parents followed and the one that they taught us to follow. The
bucket-carrying model tells you here's what you do to get ahead:
Go to school and learn how to carry
buckets.
Work really hard.
Earn the right to carry
bigger buckets. (get promoted)
Resign from "Bucket Company
A" to work for "Bucket Company B" which lets you carry even bigger buckets.
Work longer hours so you can carry
more buckets.
Put the kids through
bucket-carrying college.
Try to get promoted from carrying
metal buckets....... to carrying plastic buckets............ to carrying
digital buckets.
Dream of the day you can retire
from bucket carrying after 30-40 years.
Until then, keep carrying those
buckets....................... or, the bucket-carriers dream comes true. You hit the big
lottery! (the odds are 1 in about 14-15 million against them, but almost all bucket
carriers think it could happen to them, so........... until then, keep
carrying those buckets)
What
do all those bucket-carriers earn for their efforts?
Surprisingly little. According to
Parade magazine's "What People Earn" survey, the average worker in America earns
$28,500 a year. Subtract almost 20% for taxes, and that leaves $22,500
take-home pay.
Similarly, the average worker in Tanzania earns $9,300 a year, the same
way subtract almost 20% for taxes, that leaves $7,440 take home pay. (acc. to local survey)
Let's face it, that's not enough
for most people to live on.
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 got to carry more buckets!
"I'll get a second job
carrying buckets in the evenings and on weekends," Daddy Bucket Carrier decides.
"I can go back to the
bucket-carrying job I had before the kids were born," Mommy Bucket Carrier says.
"The kids can get
bucket-carrying jobs after school and in the summer," they both say.
The Results?
Today North Americans work the
longest hours in the world. Yes, even more than the work-obsessed Japanese. Is it the
earn-more-money-by-carrying-more-buckets plan working?
No!. Here are the facts.
Consumer debt is at a record high.
The average household has 95 cents worth of debt for every dollar earned.
The proportion of women working to
support their families is more than doubled over the past 20 years.
More people are taking second and
third mortgages on their single biggest asset............ their
homes............. to pay the bills.
Hello! What's wrong with this
picture?
It's the fallacy of carrying bigger
buckets. Bucket carriers tell themselves everything would be okay if they
could just carry bigger buckets.
Bucket carriers are forever
wondering how much money other bucket carriers earn. True, the doctors bucket or
the one of the most favored employee is a lot
bigger than the cook's bucket.............about ten times bigger! But that
doesn't mean the
doctor or the favored employee is financially independent.He's
just as dependent on his bucket carrying job as the cook.
Why?
They spend more! Truth is, these
employees (Doctors, Lawyers etc.) making six-figures are spending
most of their income to support their lifestyles.
-The average
worker drive a $5,000 used car. The most favored employee drives a $45,000 Lexus.
-The average worker sends his kids to free
public school or the cheap private schools. The most favored
employee sends his kids to the most expensive private school.......and on
and on and on.
The most favored employee spends
just as much of a percentage of his income than all other bucket
carriers. All are living paycheck-to paycheck.
All Buckets Eventually
Dry Up
All buckets dry up no matter how
big they are. Pipelines, on the other hand, are self-sustaining. But pipelines
require sacrifice. Pipelines don't build themselves.
You have to be willing to put in
the time and effort to build them.
A Bigger Bucket Won't
Solve The Problem. Why?
Carry as big a bucket as you can
but build a pipeline on the side, because as long as you carry buckets, you have to
show-up to get paid, and no matter how big the bucket is... it will dry-up.
“It's Your Turn To Choose”
What sounds like the best plan to
you? Remember, most of your friends and neighbors won't understand! They've
been taught to carry buckets.
Time Levels The Playing
Field
It doesn't matter how much money
your earn ............ or how little money you earn........... we all have the
same amount of time in each day. 24 hours. It doesn't matter if you're a doctor,
lawyer, or cook. It only takes time to build a pipeline. Yes you'll need
tools................ but those will cost relatively very little.
So everyone has an equal
opportunity when it comes to building a pipeline!
Timing
Some people put off building their
pipelines because "right now isn't a good time for me." Guess what? Right now
is a bad time for anybody! We're all stressed.
We're all busy. We're all putting
out fires and dealing with unexpected emergencies. There's a word for
these bad times.
It's called life!
Some people waste their lives
waiting for the "perfect time" to do x, y, or z. Well, they'll die waiting because there's
no such thing as a perfect time. If someone told you they'd give you $1 million
dollars if you'd sit in a corner and knit for two hours every day for one year, you'd
find the time right?
It wouldn't matter if your son
broke his arm.............your car wouldn't start........the cat got sick. Rather than
forfeit $1 million dollars, you'd find the time no matter what.
Waste Not Want Not
People often ask why they should
take the time and effort to build pipelines when things aren't going so bad for
them right now. They say they deserve to relax in the recliner and watch TV
after a hard days work. Got a few bucks in the bank.... kids are doing good in
school........... no need to "rock the boat".
There's no better time to build
your pipeline than when things are going good!
A Final Thought
A man was on the 30th floor of a
fancy hotel overlooking Central Park in Manhattan. He pulled back the
shades........... and threw open the window to enjoy the view. As he leaned out
the window, he was startled to see a man falling past his window.
"How you doing?" he asked
the falling man.
"Fine so far," came the
reply.
The point is, there are lots of
bucket carriers in the world that think they are "doing just fine". But
they can't stay in the free-fall forever. Sooner or later they'll meet the ground.
For bucket carriers
it's................... don't or can't show up for work............... no more paycheck!
If this Inspires you and you would like to receive further inspiration
leave your email or phone number in the comment box below, or you can contact me directly via contacts below.
Regards,
Dr Norbert
Muna,
+255 (0)
713 339 054,
+255 (0)
754 288 028,
munanorbert@yahoo.com
norberts2012@gmail.com
