Next week, we’ll start talking about HERMIT CRABS!
“No way!”, you’re thinking, “Where did that come from?”
“Yes way”, I say. “Because, as helpful as the snake-shedding-its-skin metaphor is when thinking about growth and constraints, the hermit crab metaphor is far richer when talking about people.”
Yesterday, coincidentally, while rereading THE OLD MAN by Thomas Perry (also a TV series), when I came across this paragraph:
Love this line:
“He was old in the way a seven-foot-rattlesnake was old.”
Which I took to mean:
- he was dangerous when he was young,
- he’s dangerous when he’s old,
- because he’s still the same dangerous snake,
- just older (and maybe wiser).
The snake metaphor works best when thinking about physical growth and bottlenecks:
The snake’s diameter was 10cm; it shed its skin; it can now grow to be 12cm.
Humans do grow like that:
The manager lead 8 people … but there weren’t enough hours in the day to take on more; she did some productivity/management tricks; now she can handle a team of 12.
But we humans grow in so, so, so many other ways other than size.
I’ve grown (ha!) to prefer the hermit crab metaphor.
When Hermit crabs get too big for their shell, they “come out of their shell”, and go hunting for another shell.
Kinda like when we move houses.
Or jobs.
Or when our kids leave home.
Or when we get an unexpected promotion.
Or when a pandemic hits.
And whenever we select a new shell … we need to grow into it in many ways.
It's not just a matter of eating more protein.
Have a good weekend, and why not hit reply and tell me what you’ve got planned!
Clarke
