How to be a cockroach

This is not a Kafka’s fairy tale but one of my best memories and great learnings from my visit to the US. It was an advice from the mentor Morris Wheeler in the Launch House, a Coworking Space located in Cleveland, Ohio: be a cockroach ! I remember that we laughed collectively after hearing and visualising this metaphor but it made us think deeply on entrepreneurship in times of huge complexity. It even became my motto for months and I used it with huge success and massive impact during my talks when I returned to my home country Morocco.

But before the how, the why. Why be a cockroach? Remember when the Allies struck Hiroshima, just one species resisted the nuclear attack: the cockroach! That’s not a joke but a historical fact. In addition, cockroaches are friendly, clean and extremely resistant. I have even been told that the cockroach is the cleanest animal on earth. In fact they are one of the world’s oldest pests. If they managed to survive what Mammoths, dinosaurs and probably man couldn’t, they have certainly something to be learnt and a message to deliver. They are also a smart species, which is sustainable and hermaphrodite.

But let’s be clear, I’m not asking you to turn hermaphrodite; which is impossible indeed, but I’m admiring this animal’s capacities. I know, women hate this insect and there is a popular quote that says “the most courageous woman can face a lion but fear a cockroach.” Sorry ladies about this story but trust me, it’s worth reading and spreading!

Instinct, instinct, instinct!

I don’t remember what Marketing guru the quote “location, location, location” is from. But the quote “Instinct, instinct, instinct” is probably from a cockroach, a wise one. To survive in today’s changing markets and societies, there is a traditional Moroccan saying; you have to wake up early, and another old one, “to wake up early is gold”. Our survival instinct pushes us to be an early bird, oops cockroach, to be auto motivated, to go over the boundaries and the limits. We have a huge energy potential that we unfortunately either don’t use or use the wrong way. Take the time to imagine. There are plenty of possibilities and opportunities, but is your energy dedicated to catch them? The cockroach actually does because he is determined on his survival scope.

Develop Your Resilience

We can learn from the extreme capacities of the cockroach to build our own resilience. Every species doesn’t have the capability to fly, to fast and to use a little amount of food and water as the pest does. The human being for instance has this bad habit of waste in everything. We can build capacities by doing things ourselves like growing our own food, being vegan, walking, running, cooking, reading books,… If you observe nature you will certainly do like it, as the master cockroach does. Then you’ll live in harmony with the universe. Resilience can also be experimented collectively. The emergence of the communities on the web and in real life is a collective expression of it and it’s a chance, probably the last chance for humanity…

Activate Your Dream

What is your dream? I’m not talking to the cockroach but to you dear reader, my brother, my friend. I’m not talking here about technical stuff like goals, objectives and challenges. Do you have a dream? Remember that Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs and the Wright brothers had a dream*. They were passionate, they had this belief, this eagerness that made them so successful and so popular. They didn’t have a lot of money but they strived to achieve their dreams with passion and determination. This is, Sirs and Madams, the power of dreams.

Does the cockroach have a dream? I asked Google and guess what I found: “To dream about seeing a cockroach signifies a chance encounter with an affluent and wealthy person or someone who wields enormous power in the community.” A wonderful being, isn’t it?

* From a recommended book : “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek, You can also watch the Ted Talk