Persevering The Wide Open Seas of Doubt : A Parable of Entrepreneurship

Imagine it’s 1778…

Your great Uncle Salvador, on hi deathbed, gives You his sacred treasure map.

“Promise me you will seek out the treasure,” he whispers into your ear, with his last gasp of breath.

No one but you knows about the treasure map.

You think about all the stories Uncle Salvador used to tell you of his adventures at sea.

How he was the only one who made it back alive after his last voyage.

The storm that fiercely swallowed his ship. His crew. How he was the only one that made it out alive, floating to shore of an uncharted island, managing to save the treasure he’d spent his whole life seeking.

How he built a small raft out of the salvaged pieces from his ship, buried the treasure, and made it out to the wide open sea where he, nearly dead, was saved by explorers.

You look at the map.

Your heart beating with thrill.

Your stomach rumbles with fear.

You think about everyone in town calling your Uncle Salvador crazy. How they all laughed at him and said he was lying about the treasure.

Crazy, maybe a little. But your Uncle was not a liar.

You believed.

You spend years, and years, working relentlessly till finally your ship is complete.

You hear people around town starting to call you crazy, just like his Uncle Salvador.

You are too focused on your treasure to pay attention to them.

You set sail, with your crew of 8, filled with adrenaline, fear, and excitement as you embark upon the the uncharted seas.

It’s been months since you’ve seen any land. You are on course, but all you see is water.

Your mind begins to play tricks on you. Your crew begins to question You.

You begin to doubt yourself, but you snap out of it, and start describing the treasure, with rubies larger than a fist, the mountains of silver & gold coins, the undiscovered island.

This holds your crew over for now.

You should of seen land by now, according to your calculations.

You only see the vast, wide open ocean.

You are running out of food and water.

You hear, as your crew begs. Doubts.

"You need to change course. We can still make it back. No one else has gone this far. Your Uncle Salvador was crazy. He was lying about all of this. If we all die out here it's on You!"

You think about turning around.

You remember the promise you made to your Uncle Salvador on his deathbed.

You persist onward into the unknown.

Each day becomes harder than the last.

You feel fear and doubt, you hear it from your crew, but still you persist.

You remember the regret your Uncle took to the grave.

How your Uncle Salvador died inside, never having the guts to go back out after the treasure he had buried on that unknown island.

You look at the map.

You persist onward.

One of your crew members goes mad and jumps off the ship, immediately ripped to shreds by a hoard of sharks, before anyone has a chance to try and rescue him.

You persist onward.

You still see no land.

You feel confused, afraid, your body aches from dehydration.

You persist onward.

Turning back is no longer a option.

You find the treasure or die. There’s no other option.

You can barely stand, your body so frail, to see something taking shape in the distance.

You see the island, just like your Uncle drew it on the map. Shaped like a lion, with a jetty of jagged rocks making the shape of the tail.

You remember your uncle talking how these rocks split his ship during the storm, how the violent ocean swallowed his crew.

You drop anchor.

You don’t pay attention to the pain anymore as you, and the now 7 members of your crew, crawl up onto the warm sand.

You see the coconut and mango trees are everywhere, just like his Uncle Salvador described.

You drink coconut water until you puke, as it’s you’ve been out of water for days, giving the last of it to your crew 3 days ago.

Or was it 4?

Who knows.

Who cares.

You take out the map.

You follow the dotted line into the jungle.

250 paces.

There it is.

X marks the spot.

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