Have you ever had the feeling that your life is not bad and your job is stable, but you just feel that something is not right? It’s like repeating the same thing every day, with no progress or change, but you can’t tell where the problem lies.
In fact, this state in psychology has a very graphic expression, called the “frog effect”. It sounds a bit strange, but the problem behind it is closely related to our daily life.
What does the frog effect mean?
It comes from an experiment: if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump out and run for its life; but if you put it into cold water and heat it up slowly, the frog won’t run away immediately, but will slowly adapt to the water temperature until it is finally cooked.
Doesn’t that sound scary? Although the veracity of this experiment has since been somewhat questioned, the point it makes is illuminating:
**People, too, are particularly sensitive to sudden dangers, but can easily ignore changes that happen slowly. **
For example, a job that at first made you feel challenged and grow, but after a few years have passed, you’ve gotten used to the pace and stopped learning new things. On the surface everything looks normal, but in reality, you may already be on a downward spiral.
Why is that? What does the brain think?
One of the characteristics of our brain is that it likes to “save energy”. When the environment changes slowly, the brain thinks, “This is no big deal,” and we don’t think about it.
This was good in ancient times – for example, if you were stressed out all day about the slightest movement, you’d waste a lot of energy. But in the modern world, this mechanism of “automatically ignoring slow changes” has become our weakness.
We call this psychological phenomenon “adaptive bias”.
That is to say, we do not intentionally do not change, but simply do not realize that we have been “trapped”.
Real life example: Tommy’s story
Let’s look at a real-life story to better understand how the Frog Effect affects a person’s life.
Tommy has been working in an IT company for more than 20 years, earning a good income and holding a stable position. He felt that his life was very comfortable and he didn’t have to work too hard to have a good life.
At first, he was quite satisfied with this “easy” state. But slowly, the company’s business began to decline, and he worked less and less. He should have recognized the problem, but he did not.
Colleagues began to learn new skills, some jumped ship to better companies, and others got promotions and raises. And Tommy? He went to work as usual, thinking, “I’ve been doing this for years, the company won’t want me anyway.”
And what happened? One day the company suddenly announced layoffs, and Tommy became one of the first to be laid off because of his outdated skills.
At this time he realized that he had long been unable to keep up with the pace of the times, only that he had not noticed.
This is a typical case of “boiling frog in warm water” – you feel comfortable at first, but when you realize something is wrong, it’s already too late.
How do we get out of our “comfort zone”?
You may ask: I’m afraid I’ll become a frog too, so what should I do?
Actually, if we are willing to take the initiative to observe and change, we can completely avoid this situation.
Here are some suggestions that I hope will help you:
1. Pay attention to those “small changes”.
Often, problems don’t appear all at once, but build up slowly. For example, your job is getting easier, your coworkers are learning new things, and industry trends are changing. …… These seemingly insignificant things are actually signals.
You can ask yourself:
- Does this job still teach me as much as it used to?
- Have I moved up in the last few months?
- If I lost my job now, would I be able to find something else?
These questions don’t have to be answered right away, but at least remind yourself to think about them.
2. Set goals for yourself, don’t just live by feelings
Many people fall into a “comfort zone” because they don’t have clear goals. They just go through the motions every day and think they can get by.
But if you want to jump out of the “frog effect”, you have to learn to set goals for yourself. For example:
- Learn a new skill in three months
- Read 10 books a year
- Evaluate your career development every six months
Once you have goals, you will have a better sense of direction and will not be easily confused by the “warm water”.
3. Make concrete plans, not just fantasies
It’s not enough to have a goal, you have to have a plan of action. For example, if you want to learn a new skill, you can’t just think about it:
- Find suitable learning resources (e.g. courses, books)
- Schedule a regular time to learn
- Set milestones to see if you’re making progress
The only way to break the status quo is to actually do it.
4. Talk to different people and listen to different voices.
Sometimes we don’t see the problem because we keep going around in the same circle. That’s why it’s recommended that you reach out to different people, especially those who are better than you and work harder than you.
They may give you a different perspective and may make you realize that the world out there has been different for a long time.
5. Don’t be afraid to change, change is not scary
Many people are afraid to change because they are afraid of failure and hard work. But you have to realize that the real danger is not the uncertainty of change, but the “illusion of security” brought about by your failure to change.
Instead of waiting until you are “cooked” by the reality and then regret, it is better to jump out earlier, even if the process is a little painful, it is worth it.
Summarize
The “Frog Effect” is not a scary story, but a reminder. It tells us that the most dangerous situations in life are not sudden disasters, but those “small changes” that we take for granted.
If you find yourself not growing for a long time, or just mechanically completing tasks every day, be careful – you may already be in “warm water”.
It’s never too late to change, as long as you are willing to start observing, thinking and acting, you can jump out of the “warm water” and take control of your life.