Recently, with one of my favorite former clients who I continue to call friend, I reminded her of some ancient wisdom. All I ever do, btw. I’m in the reminding business and understand the gig.
She’s got a great gig. Looks amazing on paper. Gives her juice and plenty of cabbage too. It is changing. Unsure where it’s headed, you know. Ever been there, friend? She’s really invested in the system and they love and need her. As we talked work and life, it hit me to remind her of the old story about how to boil a frog. Asked her if she remembered the story. To my amazement, she had no idea what I was talking about. Damn. I. Am. Old.
The fable goes something like this. If you want to boil a frog, put him in a pan of room temperature water. Let him get comfy. Then, turn the heat up. Slowly. Very, very slowly. If you turn the heat up too quickly, he will sense the sudden change and jump. If, however, you slowly turn it up, he will sit there until he slowly boils to death. He won’t jump. Won’t sense the need.
We humans are a lot like frogs, huh.
We tend toward not jumping when things slowly head south. We react to high heat but oftentimes ignore the slow loss of juice until it’s too late. You, friend, are CEO of Y.O.U. When you gonna ACT like it? Is it time to jump? Who is helping you sense the temperature rising? You listening or simply sitting in the slow boil? Slow down. Write. Reflect. Is it time to ACT? You’re smarter than a frog, right?
Live hard. Love harder…
BUILT TO LEAD 