"Lobsters are the coolest and most interesting animals in the world."
-Nobody
I don’t think any regular person thinks about lobster. Well, as a food maybe but definitely not in philosophical concept. However, I think we may have a thing or too in common with them. Maybe we can even take a lesson from them. I came across this idea when I started reading 12 Rules of life by Dr. Jordan Peterson. I was truly fascinated by it. Who would have guessed lobster can be somewhat interesting.
Dominance
When you think of a lobster you can’t really picture him chatting to girls at the bar or anything like that. That’s because lobster is not really social creatures. Dominance disputes and creating hierarchies is their purpose in life.
When a lobster wins a dispute, he starts flexing with his pecs and arms, to properly let the loser feel who’s the daddy here.
Why is that you might ask? Well, the neurochemical system that makes lobster flex is called serotonergic. It probably doesn’t ring a bell but it’s the same exact chemical that can be found in antidepressants. So if you ever felt depressed and discouraged, you felt the same way as a defeated lobster. After you take the antidepressant, given they work properly, you feel like you can fight again and take on that crabby looking shrimp that put you down in the first place. We have the same chemical composition as lobster and we separated from them 600–300 million years ago. That’s why hierarchies are the cornerstone of everything, they came from the time of lobsters.
Another funny thing is when an old lobster who has been at the top for a long time losses to a younger stronger lobster. He becomes depressed even tho, his brain is dominant to the younger one but because lobster doesn’t have much of the brain, it dissolves. He then grows a subordinate brain and becomes very sensitive to everything around him. The same exact thing happens with post-traumatic stress and depression. This makes us somehow relate to the poor lobster.
Now that you are at least a bit more interested in lobsters, don’t deny it, what do they have to do with entrepreneurs? Are entrepreneurs depressed, is that it? No, well maybe sometimes. You now know what is the connection between us and lobsters. However, they do have one important lesson to teach us.
Entrepreneurship and suffering
What makes a good entrepreneur? It’s the ability to suffer. Suffer through everything that life may throw at him. The willingness to keep going even when the light is nowhere in sight. That’s what warriors are made of. That’s what true entrepreneurs are…warriors. And lobsters for that matter.
If you have ever seen a lobster, you can see his hard shell and big arms. What you don’t see is that underneath that shell, they are jelly-like soft creatures, almost like gelatine. It builds a strong shell to protect itself from predators. The lobster can live up to 50 years. Sometime in his life, he starts the process of molting, which is basically shedding its protective shell.
The reason of molting is because the lobster outgrows its shell and grows very unconformable. So it abandons the shell, takes shelter behind rocks and spends a massive amount of energy to build a new shell.
Now we can see the resemblance between lobsters and entrepreneurs. They refuse to be stuck in the same small shell. So they leave it and as a result of that became vulnerable. For years, they endure the vulnerability of being exposed while they build a business. In that process, they go through a personal transformation.
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."
-Muhammad Ali
Entrepreneurs endure everything that will come at them. They may have to take this journey alone and suffer for a long time. However, in the end, they become victorious and they wear their shiny new shell they built with the pride. When they outgrow it, they leave it and repeat the process again. They have to learn what rocks are best to take shelter and constantly learn from mistakes. They may take some beating from time to time but they always get up.
The learning and the growth are all worth it in the end and trust me, lobsters don’t do it for the money and neither should you. Even if you lost everything, the one thing that stays is what you have learned and with that, you can bounce right back. So ask yourself, would it be better to have lived life to the fullest, attempting great things and then dying? Or be thinking in your last days about the things that you could have done, the dreams that you didn’t pursue because all the failures would be irrelevant then?
If you don’t live your life to help others, then you are not living at all. Entrepreneurs spend their lives impacting thousands of people, and the very successful ones, often change the world.
The one thing you can do is try. Try and fail. Fail often. Failing is learning. Suffer. Make it a part of who you are. You can choose to suffer in mediocrity or live a life full of adventure and opportunities. Don’t get comfortable. Keep on doing this and I promise you, you will become a great lobster one day.
You will understand the Art of Lobstery. One day we may see each other in the Great Club of Lobsters. Until then keep hustling my friend, because I know I will.
Recommended sources:
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
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