The Cockroach Management Theory
This is the time of year when it is easy for things to start going crazy with the last day of school for seniors on the horizon, IB exams looming, end of year exams for High School students, and the general feeling that the to do list is getting longer as the time in which to do it all decreases.
I always feel this correlation between tasks and time is like the washing machine as it goes into the final spin cycle before coming to a screaming halt!
A friend just shared with me The Cockroach Management Theory and it seems, at this point in the school year, apt to share.
THE COCKROACH MANAGEMENT THEORY
A beautiful speech by Sundar Pichai; an IIT-MIT Alumnus, now Google boss.
"The cockroach management theory for self development"
At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear.
With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.
The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away, but it landed on another lady in the group.
Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.
In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.
The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt.
When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.
Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts, and started wondering; was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour?
If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?
He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.
I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.
It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.
More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.
Lessons learnt from the story:
I understood, I should not react in life.
I should always respond
The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.
Reactions are always instinctive, whereas responses are always well thought of.
A beautiful way to understand LIFE.
A Person who is HAPPY is happy not because
Everything is RIGHT in his Life...
He is HAPPY because his Attitude towards Everything in his Life is Right!
RESPOND TO ISSUES DON'T REACT, and keep winning....
The Cockroach Management Theory serves to remind one of the importance of responding, and not reacting. Through a somewhat comical situation*, the moral is very clear.
I implore you - when facing a challenging situation - to respond, rather than react.
* The feminist in me can not help but notice that it is the women who react and the man who responds. If I were to have written this, I would have used gender neutral terms so as not to (unconsciously or not) reiterate gender stereotypes in the eyes of the reader.