From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
Frogs and change
There is an old story bandied about in management circles about two frogs. One is put into a saucepan of boiling water - guess what happens? Surprisingly, it jumps out! Very quickly! Smart frog! The other frog is put into a saucepan of tepid water which is put over a low heat and gradually the heat is turned up to the point where the water boils. The frog doesn't notice the subtle and small changes and allows itself to be boiled to death.
Now for those animal lovers out there who are shocked and appalled by this concept - let me rush to say I don't know if they used real frogs. It was probably virtual reality frogs who were coached by real frogs! Ha , ha just kidding folks!
That story started Þme thinking about us and our similarity to frogs! So many people slowly subside into the seething mass of mediocraty. Whew - that was profound. What I really meant to say was how easy it is for us not to notice a continuous, slow decline in the quality of our lifestyles.
Think of the last time a crisis occured in your life - something that precipitated a sudden and dramatic change. Although it was terrible at the time I bet it made you rethink life , your goals, hopes, dreams, purpose nad the meaning of your life in a big way! Just like being dropped into a vat of boiling water - if you have any feeling left in your body, you'll make a very quick choice and change!
So should we look at something that forces change on us as bad? Or could we maybe look at a bigger picture - if we palyed a game and you had to pretend you were looking back on this sudden change time from the future, what growth and development did the incident spur in you? Did it change the direction of your life? Or preipitate
we plafe? Or spur you to do something that you had wanted to do for years, but hadn't had the courage or time ?
If we want to make changes in our lives most people will
think about making one change at a time - doing it gradually so it's not too stressful. There is some merit to this concept of course! But maybe there's also merit in the idea of throwing ourselves into 'boiling water' and making lots of changes at once.
Mind you, it' s more frightening , more challenging
or scary You know, 'taking the 'bull by the horns'! (How many more animals can I bring into this?!) versus the mousey approach! OK, I'll stop now!I frightening, and probably more stressful, but you might surprise yourself by your resourcefulness and abilities. Often, it takes extreme circumstances to bring out qualitites you never knew you had!
And for you to develop confidence in your feelings orintuition or 'inner knowing'!
Sometimes we are working in a job for example, that we feel is wrongbut we don't have the courage to 'take the plunge' (just wanted to continue the frog/water story!!) and go to what we feel is right - even if we don't have another job lined up. A friend of mine has just left her full time paying job at which she was very successful. But she knew it wasn't what she really wanted to do. So she decided she would leave and pursue what she wanted to do.
Now, she didn't just leave and wander aimlessly wondering what she should do. She researched and made phone calls and networkedand she had some cash reserves to keep her going. Now she is 'between jobs' and feeling great when we (and she!) thought it would be stressful and scary. She is actively searching for her niche, and is exxcited about life like she hasen't been for years.
Maybe sometimes, it's exhilarating to be thrown into boiling water! How do you view change? What do you tell yourself about it? Is it always awful? Or could you choose to look on it as a stepping stone- sometimes a forced stepping stone! - a way of climbing higher
cold. The heat is Yuk.trigger, impetuswe usually (or jumping in at the deep end)
alitites you never knew you had.Difficult situations also help. she decided she would take responsibility for herself- she left.
Sarching for her niche, and is e
A divorce is a good example of the 'boiling water 'syndrome. At the time our whole world is shattered. Yet, ask most divorced people five years after the divorce how life is different, and the answers are similar. 'It was awful at the time but it's the best thing that ever happened to me. Since then I've .....'
SWhether it's your choice - or someone elses. rced stepping stone! - an opportunity for you to test yourself and your abilities - to see how good you really are and that is usually much better than you ever thought!
Pretend your are looking back from the future - what impact did the Big Change have on your life? What did at the time? Perhaps in the present time we couldw good you really are and that'
Or deaths. I had the great fortune to travel around Australia recently with Sarah Henderson who is a really amazing person. There is another example of being thrown into boiling water - her husband died and left her with a million dollars debt. (Can't get much more boiling than that!) Since then, she has become a famous author, wise investor, international speaker and generally has learned more skills than you can poke a stick at!
