A successful executive decides that this year he will take an alternative vacation. No more Red Sea, no more Kenya, no more Maldives: he chooses to spend two weeks at his aunt's place, who has a farm.
On the first day, he wakes up very late and finds himself alone in the house without knowing what to do, getting really bored. In the evening, when his aunt returns from the fields, he says, "You know, Aunt, I was quite bored today; I would like to help out with some chores to repay your hospitality. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
And the aunt replies, "Sure! Last week we collected the hay; you should count how many bales of hay there are, so I know how many I can sell to the neighbors. I'll get up early tomorrow because I have to go to the market to sell the eggs; see you tomorrow evening."
The next day, our executive friend spends his time counting the bales of hay. In the evening, when the aunt returns, he says, "I've counted the hay bales; there are 5842!" "Well done, nephew, you've done a great job!" "Thanks, Aunt; could you give me something to do for tomorrow as well?" "But... actually... I don't know... there is quite an urgent job that needs doing, but I hate to ask you..." "Don't worry, Aunt, I'm happy to help. What is it?" "You should fertilize all the fields so I can go to the market to sell the fruit." "Great, then I can spend the whole day outside. Just explain to me how to do it, and by tomorrow evening it will all be sorted."
Done deal: the next day he spends his time spreading manure on his aunt's fields. In the evening, the aunt says, "Good job, you did a perfect job, you really made me happy!" "Yeah, you should know that I had a lot of fun too. I’m really starting to enjoy country life. What can I do tomorrow?" The aunt replies, "I need to prune the trees, but I imagine you might be a little tired, so I’ll give you an easy, simple, and low-effort task: last week I collected the potatoes, and before I go to sell them at the market, you should sort the big potatoes from the small ones."
In the evening, when she returns, the aunt finds the entire mountain of potatoes still to be sorted and her nephew looking bewildered with two potatoes in hand: "What? Did you just stand there all day with those two potatoes in hand? The other day you counted all those bales of hay for me; yesterday you fertilized all the fields perfectly; I couldn’t have asked for better. Today, when you simply had to sort the potatoes, you did nothing. How is that possible?"
"You see, Aunt, the fact is that us executives, as long as it’s about counting bales and spreading shit, we have no problem; it’s when we have to make a decision that we don't know what to do..."
