Goose that lays golden eggs

Over time, I have found real value in many of the childhood stories we learnt as children.

Squirrels hide nuts in hundreds of places when times are good. Then they go back and use it when times are bad. As a completely unintentional side-benefit, they plant a lot of trees.

Humans do this as well. They save money, can fruits, pickle their vegetables, study for years in school, invest in their retirement accounts. But nearly not enough. The average retirement balance is abysmally low.

More importantly in my experience with friends and family, I noticed that the ones that seemed to have a better life over time seemed to be able to have more restraint. They acted less impulsively. They didn’t take a lot of short-cuts and they didn’t give in to their desires.

Not dropping out of college or school; saving money regularly; not selling their property that makes them regular income to buy the latest cars, connecting with family and friends regularly, etc. Many small steps, but still those who regularly did the steps did not seem to have life-damaging problems.

The fable of the farmer killing the Goose that laid the golden eggs, slowly became increasingly clear to me as I matured. At some point I learnt about the famous ‘marshmallow test’, which showed that there was something very core to nature about delaying gratification.