9 Lessons in Adaptability from the Animal Kingdom

I have moved from one place to another my whole life. I’ve lived on 4 of the 7 continents and 9 countries. Anytime you move, it’s jarring to the system. As a kid of age to remember the experience, it felt like my whole world was falling apart. I was losing all my friends, my landmarks, everything that I knew for the unknown. Then, I started looking forward to it and learned to focus on the positive side of the experience: making new friends, learning a new language, discovering a new culture, eating new foods. There were so many more things to look forward to than things to be frightened of.

Through these incredible experiences, I learned to adapt. I became a chameleon. I “blended in” by learning the language as well as the native speakers and adopting their culture as my own. As I got older, I became a blend of all the experiences, languages, and cultures I had lived with. One of the keys to our growth is that sense of adaptability. There are many ways we can adapt, and today I wanted to take inspiration from the animal kingdom has experienced and look at which ones are positive adaptations, in reference to humans, and which are not.

The importance of adaptability

We've all heard the phrase "the only constant is change" and it couldn't be more true. The world, business, and our lives are constantly evolving, changing shape before our very eyes. This can make it difficult to stay on top of everything going on around us. We feel stressed out and overwhelmed with obligations because they seem necessary at the time. But what if I told you there were ways to adapt not just your life but also your mindset so that no matter what comes your way - a promotion or getting laid off unexpectedly - you'll always be ready? You're in luck! In this blog post, we will talk about how to harness the power of adaptability by looking at some lessons from the animal kingdom.

9 Lessons from the animal kingdom

1. Use criticism as fuel for growth

Tubeworms turn toxic water into food. These creatures have no stomach, gut, or eyes. Instead, they are "bags of bacteria" with heart-like structures and reproductive organs. The bacteria inside the worms use the toxic hydrogen sulfide in the water, which would kill most other animals, as an energy source to produce carbohydrates (Source: National Geographic)

Most people face criticism on an almost daily basis. It can take many shapes; a sub-par performance review from a manager, a troll on your Social Media pages or a bad review on your business which threatens your very livelihood. And we must choose how we're going to respond. The easy thing would be for us to give up because life isn't always fair but sometimes adversity makes us better too! We get stronger as individuals from learning how not only cope with these difficult situations but also grow into our best selves by using them as tools for self-improvement and growth.

No-one likes to hear criticism, but high performers know that it's their responsibility as an individual to take whatever feedback is given with a critical eye. They ask themselves tough questions like "is there truth in the statement?" or "what led this person to say these things about me? And most importantly of all, “how can I improve from what was said?".

2. Adopt a growth mindset

Newts and salamanders are the most talented amphibians when it comes to regeneration, and can escape certain death by abandoning their old body parts (Source: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/)

Humans are built to strive when they grow. And as nature has taught us, everything either grows or it dies. For us to thrive, we need to adopt a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset. One way to do that is to realize and accept that we didn’t come out of the womb fully formed with all our knowledge and intelligence already in us. When we are children, we learn as we grow, and we grow as we learn. There is a naivete in the process and an acceptance that learning is a process and most importantly, that it’s OK to fail. When you watch children fall as they learn to walk, they don’t beat themselves up for falling. No! They get right back up and try again.

 Somewhere along the way, some people lose that concept and start believing that what they know is what they know and therefore they do everything to show how smart they are, refuse to accept that making mistakes is a part of life and often end up stagnating in their life. That is the hallmark of a fixed mindset. When we espouse a growth mindset, we open a world of opportunities, and we find the need to discard outdated concepts and ideals to live a life of joy and abundance.

3. Collaboration equals success

With Emperor Penguins, the female penguins lay the eggs, but the male penguins keep them warm and safe on top of their feet covered by abdominal skin. The men huddle by the hundreds in the snow guarding their individual eggs and keeping each other warm on the cold ice for approximately 67 days (Source: Animal Planet)

When we work together, we can achieve great things. No matter how crazy or difficult a work or personal situation is, when we come together and share responsibility for our success, it makes everything much easier. This is true in almost every aspect of life from teamwork at work to working within a family. So, find your posse. Barter and trade services. Support each other by leveraging each other’s strengths and resources. You’ll build trust and goodwill, and you’ll go farther than you ever imagined.

4. Recover from setbacks quickly

African spiny mice can jettison strips of skin from their own hides when captured by predators and heal those same wounds with extraordinary speed. (Source: National Geographic)

If you get hurt, don’t dwell on it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be hurt. What you feel is what you feel. It’s OK to feel the hurt, to be disappointed, to reel from negative comments or feedback. What I am saying is don’t live there. Learn from the situation. Take an honest look at whether there is truth to what you’ve be told. If there is, define a new strategy, or learn how to upgrade your mindset or behaviors, trade negative habits for positive ones and keep moving forward.

5. If you don’t feel good, adjust your habits

The Italian wall lizard has undergone an impressive physical transformation due to its dietary changes. In their island setting, the lizards switched from a diet composed primarily of insects to mostly plants (Source: National Geographic)

A few months ago, I started taking inventory of how I felt and reviewed my family history. It highlighted that there is a history of both cancer and Alzheimer and that as I am getting older, I’m not recovering from the “abuses” I inflicted on my body quite as well as in the past. So, I decided it was time to finally do something about it.

I started making some simple, though not always, easy changes, some of which have been harder than others: no sugar (except fruit), no starches (gluten gives me brain fog and triggers food cravings), no to little alcohol, limited caffeine, more seafood, and 2-legged meat, less 4 legged meats and the omnipresent green and all other colors of vegetables. The result is that in addition to losing some weight, I am less tired, think more clearly and have been less plagued by cravings. What changes can you make to move on step closer to the best health of your life?

6. Surround yourself with people who believe in and support you

Of all the adaptations in the animal kingdom, living together in communal or family groups is one of the most important. There are many benefits, ranging from spending time with other members of the same species to helping each other find food and defending against predators. (Source: Animal Planet)

One of my favorite things to do is to get recertified in my coaching practice every year. Why? Because I get to hang out with the coolest, most open, and supportive people. I couldn’t do what I do without learning from them, asking questions when I’m not sure what to do and supporting them in their journey as well. When I leave Cert Week, I have so much energy, excitement and new tips and tricks to apply to my business, it’s like getting a B12 shot! I’m ready to go. It is a much-needed counterbalance to some of the negativity I face in my everyday life.

You’ve likely heard this before: you are the sum of the 5 people you hang out with. So, look at your circle (family included). Let’s look at friends/colleagues and acquaintances first. Is it time for an upgrade? Start building a new circle. Not sure where to start? Try volunteering, learning a new hobby, going to new places or doing things you’re not in the habit of doing. With family, it is a bit different. I’m not telling you to cut your family off, although there are instances where it is appropriate to do so. What I am suggesting is to regulate how much time you spend with them, so you can keep your sanity!

Now there are also adaptations which we should follow the exact opposite of!

7. Paralysis by Analysis

To survive the winter, up to 60 percent of the Alaskan Wood Frogs' bodies freeze solid. They also stop breathing and their heart stops beating. This allows them to survive temperatures as low as -80 degrees Fahrenheit. And in spring, they thaw out and "come back to life." (Source: Business Insider)

When we embark into something new and unfamiliar, the natural first step is to do our research. We seek to learn what has been done before, what worked and what didn’t, to maximize our chances of success. Awesome! Just don’t be afraid to make your move. Gather the information you need and put a stake in the ground as to when you’ll make your move. There will always be more information to gather. At some point, you must trust your gut and make the best decision in that moment with the info you have. Even if it doesn’t turn out how you expect, it happened exactly as it needed to happen, so you learn your lesson and go at it again. And the upside is, you can always make a new decision.

8. Don’t isolate in difficult times

The African bullfrog buries itself 6 to 8 inches underground while waiting for the rainy season. (Source: Business Insider)

When we are going through a hard time, isolating, and getting too much in our head is a surefire way to get depressed, frustrated, or angry. It makes us second guess ourselves, question whether we’re making the right decisions. A next level approach would be seeking support from those around us whom we trust for different perspectives on our situation that can help break out of thinking about things just one way (maybe even coming up with possible solutions).

9. Let your voice be heard

Many animals have developed an innate ability to blend in. Cuttlefish change their color and texture to blend into their surroundings and octopuses can outsmart a bigger animal by quickly changing their color to blend into their surroundings (Source: Business Insider)

As much as we like to be part of a bigger unit, we are all unique. There is not one single person out there who has had the same experiences, in the same order, with the same people as you have. Therefore, there can only be one you! These unique experiences are what give you your unique way of thinking, of acting and connecting with others. What I have seen in the past, working in teams, the more diversity you have, the more creative a solution you can come up with. When a manager is insecure in who they are and they have strong voices on a team, there may be a tendency to want to quiet dissenting voices. But those voices add dimension to a discussion and with that comes innovation.

Final thoughts

There is much we can learn from the animal kingdom both in terms of what we should do: using criticism as fuel for growth, adopting a growth mindset, collaborating for success, quickly recovering from setbacks, adjusting our habits, having a good support system AND what not to do: wallow in paralysis by analysis, isolating in difficult times and quieting our voice.

Which of these will you implement in your daily life? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear what most resonated with you!