Like many of us, I have lately been spending a little extra time on the back patio (working, of course). Recently, this new routine includes the addition of a stunning “co-worker” — a magnificent, bright-yellow butterfly. And he loves taking victory laps around the yard, ensuring that all those in his vicinity take in his splendor. Why not? He deserves the recognition.
While I look forward to his visits, this guy has also inspired me to think differently. No caterpillar goes into a cocoon hoping to become just another caterpillar. Instead, nature kicks in with the promise of something completely new. Something different. Something better.
This pandemic has handed us all a heap of hesitation, headaches and heartaches. But like a caterpillar entering chrysalis, it has also gifted us the time, and opportunity, to transform — to cast away those things that slow us down, cause us undue stress and make us envious of unencumbered flight.
This pandemic has handed us all a heap of hesitation, headaches and heartaches. But like a caterpillar entering chrysalis, it has also gifted us the time, and opportunity, to transform — to cast away those things that slow us down, cause us undue stress and make us envious of unencumbered flight.
Winston Churchill famously said, “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.” I now know what he meant: Extreme conditions relieve the weight of consequence.
These times can, and should, drive us to recreate our business, ourselves or even our daily routine into new and better forms. We now have the opportunity to reemerge better than before. We can be the professional we want to be, doing incredible — and incredibly inspired — work, the work that first attracted us to this business.
During this time, we need to look to the lesson of the caterpillar and exchange convention for conversion: to replace the everyday for extraordinary, and to transform plodding to flight.
So, caterpillars, now is the time to get in that cocoon and trade legs for wings. Ask some important questions and generate solutions to fly.
What task do you dread? How can you make that task easier, enjoyable, or even go away completely? We all tend to get bogged down in a “this is the way we’ve always done it” mentality. Now is the time to ask why and to think differently. Can that dreadful task be transformed, reassigned or removed? Think how much better your work week will be without it, and make it happen.
What one action — if made now — could have a big, positive impact on your business? Change does not have to be daunting or all-encompassing. Sometimes, the best change is singular. Just one central idea that can make a world of difference. How can you build your new work week around that?
Change does not have to be daunting or all-encompassing. Sometimes, the best change is singular. Just one central idea that can make a world of difference. How can you build your new work week around that?
Is there a process, a thing or even a person that stands in the way of this positive action? How can you remove that barrier? Change is hard and takes intentional, sometimes courageous, decisions. If it were easy, we wouldn’t need a crisis to trigger it. Take a shot and liberate yourself from that task that is holding you down.
What do you want to be known for? How can you refocus efforts and energies to accomplish that goal? Picture the work that motivates and energizes you. Now is the time to adjust your course and turn this image into action. We won’t get another opportunity like this one, so start today.
The pace, volume and distractions of our past work may have kept us from our next, great metamorphosis. Our little caterpillar legs were slowing us down. Now is the time to shed that form and focus on what we can be — what we will be — when we make the changes necessary to take flight.
We can learn a lot from the caterpillar. Or, rather, the butterfly.
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