The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs: This fable is the story of a poor farmer, who one day discovers, in the nest of his pet goose, a glittering golden egg […] Much to his surprise, the egg is pure gold!
incredulous
Note: (of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something: an incredulous gasp.
Day after day he awakens, to rush to the nest and find another golden egg. But with his increasing wealth comes greed and impatience. Unable to wait day after day for the golden eggs, the farmer decides he will KILL the goose and get them all at once. But when he opens his goose, he finds it empty. There are no golden eggs. And now there is no way to get anymore. The farmer has destroyed the goose that produced them.
true effectiveness is a function of two things: what’s produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset / capacity to produce (the goose).
If you adopt a pattern of life that focuses on golden eggs but neglects the goose, you’ll soon lose the asset that produces those golden eggs for you.
Use a machine all the time but never maintain it, and it’ll eventually break. You need basic maintenance to get good long-term results.
A meaningful life can be extremely satisfying even in the midst of hardship, whereas a meaningless life is a terrible ordeal no matter how comfortable it is.