The Lesson from The Frog and Boiling Water

I bet you have heard about the story of the frog and the boiling water.

If you have no idea what the story is all about, here it is…

It is a famous fable that surrounds the personal development industry that describes a frog in boiling water. If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog into a pot of normal water and then slowly boils the water, the frog will eventually be heated to death due to its unconsciousness of the gradual temperature change.

First thing first, the fable is a lie.

When you put a frog into a pot of water at room temperature, and then you slowly boil the water, the frog WILL notice the heat and the change in temperature, and then it will jump out.

The frog will not be boiled to death unless you trap it inside the boiling water.

The Golden Lesson from the Fable

Although the story may not apply to the frog, it does a great job of describing our life in real.

Many people go through life without noticing the gradual changes, which causes them all sorts of problems.

For instance, when you are in your twenties, you can eat whatever you want, ice-creams, junk foods, chips, chocolates, and you can even party all night without feeling tired or exhausted the next day.

But when you get to your forties, you will notice the change. You will feel that you’re not as energetic as when you’re in your twenties.

Plus, your metabolism rate will decrease. And if you continue to eat and put in all junk foods into your stomach, you will develop a bloated belly.

The story of the frog and the boiling water gives us a good hint about how our failure to notice gradual changes in our life can cause us huge problems.

If you keep spending without saving, when you get to your fifties, you will regret not saving enough for retirement.

If you blame and make excuses every day and you don’t work on your future, after 10 years down the road, you will have hoped that you started earlier.

You will wish that you have a time machine so that you can start over again.

Never let the “slow boiling water” kills you.

Instead, learn to improve and cope with whatever you can right now.

You don’t have to wait for the perfect moment to start. You don’t have to know and understand everything only to begin.

You can start right now.

Create Your Future Today, Not Tomorrow

So, stop becoming the frog in the boiling water. If you want to live a successful and amazing life, you need to be conscious about the future you want to create and the decisions you make each day.

The biggest reason most people fail to live their dream life is that they fall into the trap to think that things are not changing and that they have forever to live.

If you think that every day is the same, you’re wrong.

Just like the slow boiling water, things are consistently changing at every moment. But because the change is small, most of us fail to notice it.

When I think back 20 years ago and look at my surroundings, I noticed that a lot has changed!

We don’t talk over the cable telephone anymore, instead, we use smartphones. And we don’t really watch TV anymore, instead, we have other ‘screens’ like iPad and our mobile phones.

Thus, do you think that things are going to continue to change for the next 20 years?

And where will you be 20 years from now?

Are you going to be doing the same thing, working in the same company in the same position, living in the same house and driving the same car?

I don’t know about you man, I know what I want, and I know that the only way to create the future I want is NOW, not 20 years from now.

Therefore, identify the future you want, and then build it from now on.

Stop being unconscious about the changes that are constantly happening around you and start succeeding on purpose.

How to Avoid Being “Cooked” in a Gradually Changing Environment

Now that you understand the fable of the frog in the boiling water, it is time to learn how to avoid becoming the frog and make positive changes so that you can succeed and live your dream life.

Here are a few suggestions and tips you can follow…

1. Set a goal and never deviate from it

First, set a goal. Know what you want and then turn it into a specific and actionable goal. You don’t want to go through every day without having a clear direction.

The first thing you want to do to create a better future is to identify what kind of future you desire.

Once you have a clear direction, you can run as fast as you can to get there.

Check out Goal Setting Formula to learn how to set empowering goals and achieve them like a pro.

2. Make a plan and work on it every day

Besides knowing what you want, you need to also know what you need to do to get there.

Hence, create an action plan for your goal. How and what do you need to do to reach your goal?

Every one of us wants to have a better future, but most people don’t know what to do to get there. This is where why having a plan is important.

Once you have a plan, all you need to do is to stick to your plan and take massive action.

Read: 10 Tips How to Plan Your Day and Live a More Successful Life

3. Take consistent action

If you just stand there and do nothing, you will get run down even if you are on the right track.

Identifying your goals and knowing your plan is just a foundation step to achieving the success you want, you also need to take action and work on your goals if you want to achieve them.

You can’t just think about your dream life and then do nothing and pray that it will come true.

Things don’t happen that way.

If you want something, you need to work for it.

Here’s a great quote from Dr. Phil about taking action:

“The universe rewards action. Successful people take action towards a known outcome. You can’t just think about it. You have to do it – and you don’t do it for a week or a month. You do it until. Until you get what you want.”

Read: 10 Action Steps You Can Take to Achieve Your Goals This Year

4. Improve yourself regularly

We all know that things are consistently changing, and if you don’t improve yourself from on a regular basis, you will be quickly gone out of date.

Just like your phone, you update your mobile phone from time to time so that the software is the latest, isn’t it?

And you need to do the same to yourself.

Constantly update and improve yourself so that you can perform at your best.

One of the key reasons successful people become successful is that they are constantly improving themselves.

They don’t become successful out of luck. They succeed on purpose. They read, they learn, and they take actions that produce the success result they want.

If you want to be financially rich, you can’t just do nothing about your finances. You need to track, plan, invest, and save. You need to learn how to manage your wealth too.

The same if you want to lose weight and maintain your fitness. You can’t ignore your health if you want to be healthy.

You must do something to improve yourself and update your knowledge about your health. You must learn to eat right, eat healthily, and exercise the right way.

No matter what you want to achieve in life, you must improve yourself toward it.

Read: 31 Little Things You Can Do to Improve Yourself Every Day

Conclusion

Always remember the story of the frog in the boiling water. Change is everywhere and because change happens slowly and gradually, if you don’t work on yourself, you will be soon become obsolete.

This is why personal development is important. And follow the tips I shared about to “hedge” yourself against the impact of gradual change.

Do you like this story?

Let me know what you think about change in the comment section below.