Anupam- The Dreamer

When we observe the behaviour of people around us from the lens of how to raise oneself and others up personally and professionally, we find two types of behaviours, viz. 1. Crab behaviour 2. Ant behaviour. If this interests you, then let’s understand the difference between these two and what you can choose for yourself and why!

“Crab behaviour” is a classic example of “I will not let you progress” attitude. When a bunch of crabs are put in a container, and one of them wants to get out in order to escape dying from hunger, then the others pull it’s leg down! They don’t want their brother/sister to get out of the container. One crab wants to move out by climbing on the others (i.e. by pushing others down), but the crabs at the bottom will not let the first one to get out. Eventually, all crabs remain in the container till each one of them dies.

Image courtesy: Brain Wise

Now, you can see crabs in every sphere of life like personal relationships and professional spaces. Even in professions, they can be seen in offices, corporates, politics, businesses etc.  I have myself encountered many of them. These “crabs” cannot see you progress professionally! Because they don’t have capability to lift themselves up on their own, so instead they try to climb up the ladder by downplaying and demeaning others. So, effectively they are not building their own capacity and skills, rather are engaged in demoting your skills to their own level. For example, a typical “chalu” politician will find out what wrong did the other politician do or say! He/she will not see ten good things that the other may have done, but as soon as the other commits a mistake/says something wrong, he/she will try to make mountain out of a mole hill. The crab could have focussed on improving himself/herself, but no, he/she will waste time in demeaning others! Eventually in this process, there will only be more negativity in the atmosphere, and the entire focus will shift in proving “why the other is worse than me”, which should rather be on “why I am better than the other”.

Similar thing you can find in offices too! Some people are much more interested in gossiping and making grapevines in demeaning the other, thereby wasting their own time which could have rather been utilized in improving their own skill set! But why would they do the latter when it is much easier to pull others down, rather than lifting yourself up! The reason is simple- gravity analogy! It is easier to fall under the influence of gravity, rather than lifting yourself up against the gravity.

Now, I come to the “ant behaviour”, which is a classic example of “I will progress by lifting you up”. You may have in your past time observed the behaviour of ants in your home or surroundings. When they are stuck in trouble, e.g. they are not able to cross a chasm, then they will form a bridge to let the other ants cross/climb up. Then, the ones who have crossed will pull others up one by one. So, by helping each other, they all are able to surpass the trouble and all survive.

Image courtesy: istock

The ants thus display a rare character of positivity and optimism around them. They don’t believe in lifting themselves up by putting others down, rather they believe in lifting themselves up by lifting others with them! The progress of their friends, colleagues, relatives, bosses, subordinates are not seen as an impediment in their own progress, rather they enhance the capacity of each of the ants to execute tasks which is impossible for just one ant to do. Like if they have to carry a big food particle, they all coordinate and lift it together. They know that the other is not an obstacle to progress, rather a springboard to better levels of performance for themselves as well. Because when positivity multiplies, it just does not do wonders for one person, rather it lifts the level of all of the people involved to a higher level of achievement.

Today, at many of the places, we see negativity of crabs all around. It’s like –हम तो डूबेंगे, तुमको भी ले डूबेंगे! The crabs cannot build a better world for anyone, not even for themselves, leave about any other people outside their circle of influence.

What we need is more positivity of ants all around. It should be like- हम तो तैरेंगे, तुमको भी पार लगा देंगे! The ants not only build a better world for everyone in their community, but even motivate people outside their circle of influence to do good!

So, cheers for the ants around us ✌️