An Amazing Mind

A hunter was crawling through mud and old leaves in a forest. He was very close to catching a deer he had been tracking for hours. Then he finally saw it. It was drinking water from a river, completely unaware from him. He slowly got up, prepared his spear… and bam! The wind changed! The deer scented him. It broke into a run. The hunter threw his spear, but it missed, and he lost a whole day’s work.

A fisherman was sitting at the side of a lake, during a hot summer day. He had prepared three fishing rods earlier, and now he was just reading a book waiting for fish to catch. Then, suddenly, one rod twitched! He quickly grabbed it, and started fighting the fish. It was a big one. It took him over an hour, but finally he pulled it close, and started pulling it out of the water. Then, just as he almost had it out of the water, it managed a big twitch, slipped off the hook, and escaped. The fisherman sighed, put another bait on the rod, and sat down again. After another half an hour, a different fish caught one of his rods! This time, he successfully pulled it out and had delicious dinner.

The hunter focuses all his energy on one prey, and if he misses, he just wasted all his time. A fisherman, on the other hand, sets it up so that fish come to him! Then he can just relax and let the fish catch themselves, only popping in when a fish is ready to be pulled out of the water.

Fish, don’t hunt - at work

The obvious way to fish at work would be to grab a fishing rod, go to the marketing department, then spin the rod high above your head and try to catch that marketing executive you’ve been trying to get hold of. But that won’t be very effective, unless your goal is to get fired and have one day of fame in local newspapers. (Don’t even think of hunting the marketing exec. Yes, I know you want to, but don’t.)

A hunter spends all of his energy pursuing one prey. And he only hunts them one at a time. A fisherman, on the other hand, sets up his rods, and then he justs sit there comfortably and lets the fish come to him.

That’s why so many lifestyle gurus (like Tim Feris) recommend starting your own business. You create a product and advertising, automate everything, and then let the customers come to you. Choosing the right advertising lets the customers select themselves, instead of forcing you to hunt them down.

Now, if you love your job, by all means, stick with it! But if you feel ok-ish about your job, you might try change. Tim Ferris’ book Four Hour Work-Week is an excellent read on that.

Telemarketers are a great example of hunters. They spend lots of time and effort, and annoy a lot of people, only to close one sale. The perfect opposite, pure fishing, are pay-per-click ads, like google Adwords. They’re ignored by anyone not actively looking for your product. And you spend only a few cents for each customer.

Fish, don’t hunt - in dating

I actually first heard the words “Fish, don’t hunt!” from a guy called Craig, when he was talking about meeting women. He was basically saying that a lot of men spend all their resources pursuing one woman, buying her dinners and flowers, and only drive her away by coming on too strong. He said he prefers fishing - having lots of women in his life, meeting them for coffee or going out to town, and generally just having fun until he meets one he really likes.

Other people say they’ve had great experiences with online dating (I haven’t tried it myself yet). You write a profile, and then people screen you by that before deciding to contact you. And you can screen out other people by their profile before contacting them. (Don’t like smokers? Don’t contact them.) Fishing!

My personal experiences with “Fish, don’t hunt!”

When I was in high school, I had to write essays for my English teacher. Every now and then, I would just insert some humor in the writing, to make it more interesting to read (and make the writing more fun for myself). Invariably, the teacher marked me down, because it “wasn’t appropriate” etc. I let some friends read the essays, and they loved the fun bits.

Then I realized I was wasting energy there. Why should I do good writing for someone who doesn’t appreciate it? (hunting). I instead decided to take my writing to the internet, because you can always find fellow souls there. (Like websites dedicated to people who love chomping ice. That just makes me say wtf, but apparently some people are obsessed with it.)

And it was a great decision! I get to feel appreciated and give advice (I love doing that). And people get real value from reading my stuff. Pure fishing - only people who want to read my writing will.

Why fishing works

When you hunt, you try to control other people. Yes, you might be doing it in their best interest. But they don’t realize that. When you act like a hunter, they’re only going to feel forced into doing something they don’t want to.

You don’t control other people.

If you fish instead, you let them come to you. You wait until they realize that they want your product/advice/whatever and then you let them have it. Yes, you need to nudge them a bit so they realize they need it. Like putting a bit of bait on your fishing rods - offer some value to them so they realize you have more to offer.

Fishing requires preparation

A fisher doesn’t just drive to a lake, and then sit at the shore waiting for fish to jump into his arms. He asks around to find where the best fishing spots are, he brings his rods and bait, he sets it all up at the shore (or he sails into deeper waters, if necessary), and then he can sit around and let fish come to him.

Similarly, you won’t achieve anything just by sitting around, waiting for opportunities to come to you. You create your own opportunities.

Figure out where in your life you would like to fish instead of hunting. Then do some research. Find information from people who’ve successfully done it. Do the preparation. And then you can just sit back, relax, and drink soft drinks while making the loud “Aaaaah!” noise they make in commercials.