Do you know the story of the scorpion and the frog?  It’s a story about the dangers of not changing with the times.  To make really good sense of it, though, we need to revisit the ‘nonsense’ of Charles Darwin.

In February, two hundred years ago, Charles Darwin was born.  Fifty years later he published a theory that caused quite a stir.  In this country, that theory continues to cause a stir.  I don’t care whether people believe in his theory of evolution or not.  I do care when we ignore good insights simply because we don’t care for the main theory.

Darwin’s main theory is not going to help you through this current crisis, mainly because it takes time to evolve.  However, one of his key insights can make a huge difference to you because you can apply it today.  And every day, whether you are in crisis or not.

Here’s the insight: ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is most adaptable to change.’

For many of us it is time to stop doing what we’ve always done well.  It is time to learn new things and do them well.

But learning to do new things can be very difficult, especially during times of stress and uncertainty.  Here’s one reason for the difficulty.  During times of stress and uncertainty we look for comfort.  And where do we find comfort?  In what we already know and understand.  In our past and in our history.

At work this translates into doing the things that we’ve always done, the things we’re good at.  It’s called our comfort zone for a reason.  It’s where we zone out stress and uncertainty.  And this is how we get trapped by our history.

Remember, history’s purpose is to get you where you are now.  But depending on how you see it, history can hold you where you were.  Sometimes it is best to drop your history, else you will be ignored by the future.

Here’s one reason why we find it so difficult to learn new tricks.  Soon after you were born Big People began to tell you what to do and how to do it.  Not long after that they demanded that you get better at what they told you to do. We call these people parents and teachers and bosses and spouses.

Not many of us break out of this cycle of being ‘told’.  Most of us go on trying to please these ‘significant others’ to the extent that we fail at being us.  No wonder we become confused about whose goals we are really striving for; no wonder we end up living someone else’s vision of a successful life.

Maybe it’s time to stop getting better at what others want for you.  Maybe it’s time to understand what really matters to you.  Maybe you should commit to that for a change.  Maybe that’s the opportunity in this economic chaos.

But then, maybe you won’t.  Because maybe you think you can’t because maybe you believe it’s just your nature.  Maybe deep down you are just like that scorpion.

A scorpion asks a frog to help him across a river. The frog refuses because he is afraid of being stung.  The scorpion points out that if he did sting the frog then they would both drown.  Convinced, the frog agrees to the task.  But then, in mid-stream, the scorpion stings the frog.  ‘Why?’, asks the drowning frog.  ‘Because it's my nature’, explains the scorpion.

Indeed, many of us are like that scorpion.  Over time we become very good at what we do.  So good, in fact, that we keep on doing it, even as the world changes around us.  We end up believing that doing what we have always done is simply who we are.  It’s just our nature.

By believing so strongly in who you are now based on what you did back then, you become unable to change today, even as others try to help you into the future.  (Quite frankly, you don’t have to be a Charles Darwin to realize how un-evolved that is.)

And that, Dear Reader, is the real sting in the tale.

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 Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by James Henry McIntosh. © 2009 James Henry McIntosh.  All rights reserved.