Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

Preparing Yourself to Scale

The untold truth about transcending your fishbowl.

There’s an old adage that’s been finding new life in the viral world of internet meme sharing — that a fish only grows to the size of its bowl. While the science behind this is fascinating, I can also see why it’s become so widely recognized as such a powerful metaphor.

“Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.”

The implication of the metaphor is that your environment is inhibiting your growth and is the reason for not fulfilling your dreams. In a 2018 Facebook post, motivational speaker Bob Harrison distills the concept well, though he inaccurately substitutes a shark for a goldfish in the metaphor:

A shark in a fish tank will grow 8 inches, but in the ocean it will grow to 8 feet or more. The shark will never outgrow its environment and the same is true about you. Many times we’re around small thinking people so we don’t grow. Change your environment and watch your growth.

This goldfish is the type I’m trying to be. And, yes, this is real.

While there may be wisdom in these words, my concern is that it places too much importance on external factors. Wise people know it’s a fool’s errand to obsess over conditions — trying to get a better bowl. There will always be a better bowl. Your focus should be on growing as a fish.

But how can you focus on growth, while still artificially restricted by your environment? By realizing the truth: You don’t need a bowl. We are fish in a vast ocean of possibility tragically believing that we need a bowl. So we carry these bowls — these false boundaries — with us missing the fact that, in reality, our opportunities outstretch our imagination, and many of our limitations are self-imposed.

We won’t die if we leave the bowl, like a fish on land. We will just exit into greater waters. But we have to be willing to leave the bowl behind and venture into the unfamiliar. Maybe your bowl is something your parents taught you, or your culture, or things from your early experiences. But it’s important to understand that our bowl isn’t our environment or these factors themselves, but rather what we allow these things to tell us about ourselves and our limitations.

So you don’t have to ditch your friends or abandon your culture to fulfill your potential. This mindset is that of a victim, which leaves you at the mercy of your conditions — fundamentally disempowered.

Instead, you can adopt the mindset of a leader. If a victim is a person absent responsibility, then a leader is someone who takes maximal responsibility for anywhere within their power to make a difference. Take the time to gain clarity in who you want to be and take responsibility for that journey. Our only limitations are those which we’ve made for ourselves. Even if it’s something someone else told us, it wouldn’t have any power unless we had agreed to it.

It can be tempting to blame our environment for our small life rather than step into the responsibility of the big fish we can be. Take courage and step out into the vast ocean of your potential. If not for yourself, then for the ripple effect it will have across humanity. As Marianne Williamson tells us:

[A]s we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

This article was developed in collaboration with Barry Brown, adapted from a workshop we gave on personal growth and leadership development for a division of the Canadian Government. To learn more about our workshops, message me for more information.

Barry Brown is a former community leader, nonprofit organizer and personal coach that works in identity and leadership development for startups and enterprise businesses around the world. He’s a cofounder of human(Ethos), on faculty at Singularity University, and runs be/do labs, a part of Runway Innovation Hub in San Francisco.

Damien Foord is an Air Force veteran and creative entrepreneur that has advised hundreds of brands in Silicon Valley, including LinkedIn, Tesla, Adobe, and many more. He is a cofounder of Prismonde, applying cognitive science to business strategy and brand development and speaks on organizational identity and human-centered innovation.