I met one of our new members, Richard Latteman, at Induction last month and something he said really struck a chord with me. He told me about so-called ‘Lobster Syndrome.’
Richard was right on the money as he explained what we can learn from the behaviour of a lobster – I’m serious.
You may already know that the most common way of cooking a lobster is by placing it live into boiling water. So when you’re in a restaurant and you’ve chosen the lobster you’d like to eat, the chef will dunk the living lobster into a pan of boiling water in order to kill it and cook it. Sounds pretty grim so far doesn’t it!
Now, because the water’s very hot the lobster tries to escape from the boiling pan by clawing its way up the sides. So the chef puts a lid on it to make sure it can’t get away. All makes sense so far.
However, and here’s the key thing, if you cook more than one lobster in the same pan, at the same time, then you don’t need to cover it. You see, the other lobsters will pull it back down as it tries to claw its way out. So effectively the other lobsters sabotage their chances of freedom.
So are you one of those lobsters who’s trying to get out of the pan, the boring networking group, the unsuccessful business, the friendship group, the job etc…?
Are other people pulling you back down so you’re forced to suffer with them?
I see it time and time again, and I’ve experienced it myself – if you’re trying to better yourself, there’s always someone trying to bring you down – especially here in Britain where our culture is very different to, say, America, where success is welcomed and encouraged much more openly.
Now there’s nothing we can do about those people. They’re everywhere. And unfortunately there’s nothing the poor lobster can do about somebody choosing them for dinner!
But there is something we can do as entrepreneurs to differentiate ourselves and that’s to not make excuses and to rise above the negative forces which surround us. Take responsibility for your life and your business and don’t let anyone else pull you back down.
