As I go for my morning walk in our apartment complex, nowadays in the Bangalore rains, I spot some snails on the road. I am careful not to step on them. They move at their proverbial low speed, almost gliding, powered by succeeding waves of muscular contractions. They could take an entire lifetime to cross a street.
In the same apartment complex, we have several stray cats. Most of them have been born here, in the apartment complex itself. What must have started off as a couple of them has expanded to several families of cats. I can spot all age groups – playful kittens, innocent toddlers, street smart teenagers, mature householders and wise seniors.
The cats are scurrying around, hiding under cars, shooting past cycling children and racing to catch that unsuspecting mouse emerging from an open drain pipe. They are always alert and in perpetual motion.
My question is: why doesn’t the snail become a cat?
There are several advantages for the snail in becoming a cat. Snails are getting crushed under the foot or coming under moving vehicles. Cats hardly get such surprise death visits. Cats have a larger territory to call their own while snails have hardly any territory of theirs. In the hot sun, snails can die in the process of finding shade while cats make themselves quite comfortable in the staircases, under the cars or among the trees. I could go on and on. With so much going for the cats, why doesn’t a snail become a cat? It just beats me.
And then it strikes me.
I am thinking like a stupid human being.
It is the human being who is constantly trying to become someone else. In this process, the human being discounts self and is off on this ‘I am not good enough’ trip. The human being is constantly comparing with not one but several human beings at the same time – if only I could get as rich as A, be as famous as B, look as good as C, have a house as big as D’s, live the royal life of E, be as successful as F and so on…
Most of our life is spent on telling ourselves how we fell short of becoming someone else. For most of us, it is a story of regrets, disappointments, dejection and disillusionment.
Instead, could I be fiercely ambitious to become the best version of ME in this lifetime? Could I measure the different stages of my life journey as milestones to reach there?
The snails and the cats of the world are very intelligent. They seem to have a very high degree of understanding of Life. It is the human being who needs more intelligence.
Is it likely coming in the form of Artificial Intelligence or AI? Just checking.
In several of my coaching sessions, when people bring up such comparisons, I try and redirect the conversation to focus on their own potential. Immediately, the texture of the conversation changes and a whole unexplored world opens up.
One of the conversations that excites people stems from questions such as: if you could have lived your life differently, what would it have looked like? How could you reclaim that life now? What could you do now? What would be the first next step?
The above is an example of what could happen in a Life Coaching session. If the challenges are around a meaningful career, these questions could explore a whole new world under Career Coaching. In such cases, I support the person in visualizing a new future with clear milestones.
If you wish to give a powerful boost to your career or your Life, you could go to the ‘Services’ tab on my website and sign me up as a Coach.
In my experience of over 20 years as a Coach, coaching conversations can dramatically change lives.
