You never know what is good or bad
This was a story my dad told me one night as we sat around the fire in Amelia Island, Florida.
It is a story that I think about often that has greatly shifted my mindset when it comes to good and bad things happening in my life.
This is how the story goes.
“There once was a man that lived in a village with his son, his horse and he had a neighbor who lived next to him.
One day the man’s horse got out and ran away.
The neighbor walked over and began saying how sorry he was that this happened, how unfortunate he was, and that is such a shame such a good horse is gone.
The man replies “Who knows whats good or bad”
The next day the horse comes back with 3 additional horses.
The neighbor comes back and begins saying how good his luck is, how amazing it is the horse not only came back, but brought more horses.
The man once again replies “Who knows whats good or bad”
The next day the man’s son is breaking in one of the new horses and falls and breaks his arm.
The neighbor comes back again and begins talking about how terrible it is, how tough it is going to be without him being able to help, and how sorry he is.
The man once again replies “Who knows whats good or bad”
The next day the army comes through the village looking for able-bodied young men to go off to war, and because the son’s arm was broken he wasn't able to go.”
Essentially, the moral of the story is that it is short-sighted to judge the outcome of an event as good or bad, as good things can result in bad outcomes and vice-versa.
This lessons within this story have really helped me stay focused on the long term when seemingly bad things happen, both in my personal life and from a business perspective. For instance, when Covid shut down certain channels for Quokka Brew, rather than focusing on the bad, we focused on how this was the best time for us to focus on refining our DTC play and in the long run we actually benefited from this greatly.
Who knows what is good and what is bad