“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2
During the 19th Century, scientists conducted an experiment on a frog. The researchers put a live frog in a saucepan of boiling water. The frog just quickly jumped out. This was expected of any living thing to react quickly to a hostile environment. The Scientist then put a live frog in a saucepan full of cold water and slowly started heating the water in the pan. As the temperature of the water increased, the frog adjusted its body temperature accordingly. The frog kept adjusting its body temperature with the increasing temperature of the water. Just when the water was about to reach boiling point, the frog could not adjust anymore. At that point, the frog decided to jump out. Unfortunately, it was too late to get out of the boiling pan because it had lost all its strengths trying to adjust with the rising water temperature. Soon after the frog died in the frying pan.
My question to you today is what killed the frog?
It is easy to say that the boiling water killed the frog. Or the person who applied the heat on the pan killed the frog. You are wrong. The frog was killed by its inability to decide quickly when to jump out of the water.
And this applies to us. The tendency to get comfortable until it is too late. A good car. A good job. A good salary. And so we do not stretch ourselves to reach greatness. The only one in your way is you.
How do you keep your head high above the sand, scanning the environment for any opportunities? Knowing what is taking place and deciding when to act and in which direction? That is the key differentiator you need. If you give someone permission to control your life. They will. You must be alert and aware of what is going on so that when you decide to jump, you do so when it is timely. If you fail, you may never jump out. Timing is everything.
On 26th September 2017, Toys R Us, one of the top fast-moving consumer goods companies based in the US filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At one time, the company’s annual revenue was the US $12 billion. It had pioneered Internet business in 1999, where it had more orders for Christmas than it could handle. This showed the potential of on-line business. And that is how Amazon agreed to sign an exclusive 10-contract to retail Toys R Us on their site and no other supplier, something they did not live up to. Toys R Us sued Amazon, and after five years of legal battles, Toys R Us won and got US $51 m award. But Toys R Us failed to jump out in time. They did not build their online capability in time. Instead outsourced this critical business driver to Amazon which later changed the terms.
You too must be alert. Don’t just sit and then wake up when it is too late to jump out. Have a lovely Sunday.
Application
Think of the time you failed to change when all pointers indicated that the pan is becoming hotter? When did you just wait without doing any action to jump out?
Do not wait to act when it is too late.
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa. All rights reserved.
