Ask “to what end” & then in-source.
I want to tell you a story that I first heard from Rabbi Robert Levine, the senior rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. Here is my retelling of his story:
A group of New Yorkers goes down to a resort in Mexico for a vacation. While there, they lease a fishing boat. After some time, they start talking to the captain of the boat who seems quite a sharp, enterprising fellow.
“Can’t you imagine yourself doing more than running this boat?” they ask him.
The captain said, “What do you mean?”
One of the members of the fishing party, a banker, asks questions and finds out the financial arrangements the captain has with the boat’s owner. The financier starts telling him how he could be making a little bit more money.
The captain looks at him and says, “Tell me more.”
“Well, you could put some money in an annuity and you could save,” the man says. “Then you could hire somebody to keep your books and track your investment in this enterprise.”
The captain again says, “Tell me more.”
The man looks at him in astonishment. “Well, if you follow this advice, you could even take a vacation to Mexico and rent a fishing boat.”
Ironically or not, I was on a vacation to New York City recently and picked my niece up from the kindergarten at this synagogue – where she is the fourth generation of our family to attend. We walked a block away to the playground in Central Park where I watched her play. It was a beautiful day, and I found a bench to sit on so I could work on a crochet project I’d brought along. I couldn’t help but notice that with the exception of one or two of the children playing, I was the only relative there. Most of the people taking care of the children were caregivers enjoying the park in the late fall, people the parents had hired to care for them. I have no issue with paying to get help when needed – but I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the parents were working hard so that they could afford to have someone else sitting and basking in the glorious sunshine and crisp air.
Something to think about… the meals you eat. Do you eat out for convenience when you actually would enjoy cooking more?
This week’s #wisdom_biscuit:
Consider if there is anything you are outsourcing that you might reclaim doing.
