Be the Lobster · Fist Pump Friday

#FPF – Week 15

Sorry for the “Fist Pump Thursday” last week. Julie and I traveled through a few areas of spotty internet connectivity and I elected to send my message out early, instead of running the risk of missing a Friday.

Being back home and back in the saddle again, I find myself yearning for the countless lobster rolls we ate through the various stops along our trip. Ah lobster… we as business people can learn from them and how they deal with the stress of a “confining situation” closing in on them – specifically, their shell.

In the video above (1:30 in length) Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski explains that as a lobster’s situation/environment changes (i.e. they keep growing and their shell does not) they take cover in a safe place under a rock, shed their shell and immediately begin forming another one that better fits their body.

Eventually, the lobster finds itself uncomfortable again, due to the pressure of its surroundings – back under the rocks it goes and the process starts a new. What’s the take away? Times of stress are also times for growth. Without the pressures of our environment, we would never push ourselves to grow past where we were prior to today.

Remember your first day at your first job? Most people would agree that the first day walking into completely new and different surroundings was rather confining and stressful, but after working at that job for months or years – the day to day tasks that were once daunting became second nature and quite simple. With stress, comes the opportunity for growth. Once you’ve really gotten the hang of your current position, it’s possible you received a promotion, and with that promotion came more opportunities, but potentially more responsibilities (and more stress) resetting your personal growth cycle yet again.

If it wasn’t for our ability to push through stressful situations, learning and growing from them throughout the way, no one would aspire to be anything… It’s time to retrain our brain thinking of stress in its most negative form, and instead welcome it for the growth potential that it brings to your life. In short, be the lobster.