What if 2020 is a cocoon? Career lessons from butterflies.

“Are you sure she’s ready?” 

“Open the lid, Amy.”  

“But what if she’s not ready?” 

“She’s ready.  Open.  The.  Lid.”

A few months ago, I found myself having this exchange at a butterfly park.  As family members stood waiting, the tour guide kept nudging me to open the lid of what appeared to be a takeout soup container.  Inside the container, a rare butterfly had emerged from the cocoon she had made on the underside of the lid.  As she sat there, I kept wondering – what if she isn’t ready?  And what I would see if I had a microscope?  To my untrained and unenhanced eyes, this butterfly looked less like a runner at starting blocks, ready to launch, and more like a creature clutching the remnants of her old life.

I’ve been reflecting on that moment, because I think we can learn something from butterflies as we think about 2020 and how we want to emerge when this extraordinary time is over. 

You’ve heard the analogies and seen the memes.  2020 is a “pause.”  2020 is a “dumpster fire.” It’s the year that keeps kicking us in the face.  If it were a drink, it would be colonoscopy prep.  If it were a movie, it would be directed by George RR Martin.  If it were a bag of chips, it would be orange juice and toothpaste flavored.  We should all be playing apocalypse bingo.

Memes aside, what if 2020 is a cocoon?  What if – like a butterfly – we should be using this time to undergo our own metamorphosis?  And what would that look like?  [Side note:  Technically, butterflies emerge from a chrysalis, while moths emerge from cocoons.  This not being a science blog, I’m going to refer to cocoons.  You get the idea.]  

What do butterflies and cocoons have to do with your career?  Here are a few principles that can apply to this time in your career:

• Everything necessary for a caterpillar to become a butterfly is in the cocoon.  The cells that are required for the butterfly’s wings, for example, were already present in the caterpillar.

In other words, what happens in that cocoon isn’t the caterpillar being changed by the environment.  It’s the act of processing the old (literally – don’t google it at mealtime), and rearranging itself to transform itself.

What if you stopped assuming there’s something wrong with you, and started assuming that you already have what you need to be who you’re meant to be?  Instead of thinking you’re not good enough or experienced enough, what if you start thinking you need to carve out time and space to transform into the person you’re meant to be?

• Butterflies won’t emerge from their cocoon until the environment is ideal.  In desserts or a drought, certain types of butterflies will spend – rather than days – months and even years undergoing their metamorphosis, waiting for the perfect conditions before they’ll leave the safety of the cocoon.  They don’t waste the precious days they have to live by emerging before the time is right.

If you’re looking for a new role, don’t accept a position just because it’s offered.  Wait for the right environment and fit.

If you’re in a role that just doesn’t feel right, reflect on what you might do differently, and if the answer requires you to change who you are, either change the role, or find a new one.  You don’t have days to waste on a less than an ideal environment.

• Butterflies usually have just days to live after their metamorphosis.  They don’t waste them.

You know that famous question Mary Oliver posed, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”  The wild and precious life of a butterfly is usually just days long.  They know their mission – they need to mate and lay eggs.  What is your mission?  And what are you doing right now that is distracting you from that?

As I write this post, I am laughing out loud imagining a butterfly sitting on the couch binging Netflix.  Maybe that’s a stretch, but if she wouldn’t waste tonight, why would you?  Would a butterfly sit around saying “I’m going to update my cover letter next month”?  Would she waste time feeling envious of college classmates’ career successes?  Nope.  She’d reach out on LinkedIn and set up Zoom calls to reconnect.  She doesn’t have time to waste, and neither do you.   

• Butterflies, in the words of the song, “Let it go.”  Have you ever seen a butterfly flying around with a U-Haul behind her?  No.  Butterflies don’t try to take the remnants from their old self with them.  They let it go.  They hang on to what serves them, and fly away from the rest. 

I regularly speak to people who have been let go from their employer, or simply desperately want to leave.  They are often hanging on to emotions (particularly resentment, sadness, anger, or all of the above) that they must process and let go of in order to be successful in their next role.  What do you need to let go of in order to be successful in the next stage of your career?  Ask yourself, and then get to work processing the answer.

• Butterflies don’t waste their metamorphosis.  If you stand and watch a cocoon for a while, you may be surprised at how calm it looks.  You might even mistake it for a leaf.  But inside, the remarkable metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly is taking place.

If you paid more attention in biology class than I did, you may remember that there are two types of metamorphosis.  Some insects (like cockroaches) undergo incomplete metamorphosis, which means that at the end, they still look about the same, but they’ve had some change, like losing their wings.  

Butterflies, though, undergo a complete metamorphosis, turning from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

Amazingly, whether it’s a complete or incomplete metamorphosis, the process takes about the same amount of time.  If you can choose, wouldn’t you rather become a butterfly than a wingless cockroach?  If you’re going to be mostly home for months anyway, wouldn’t you rather come out with your career dramatically improved?  

So ask yourself:  What is happening to you and your career right now in the cocoon of staying home?  Are you learning and developing in new ways?  Are you seizing opportunities to transform yourself and your career?  Or are you just marking the days?

Whatever the answer, we’re not quite halfway into the third quarter of the year.  Ask yourself how you want to evolve and grow before the end of the year.  This is an ideal time to join a mastermind group, to start working with a career coach, to learn a new skill to make yourself better at your job, to reflect on what you want out of your career, expand and deepen your network, or “just” update your resume.

Don’t be fooled by the quiet exterior of your city, any more than you should be fooled by the quiet exterior of a cocoon.  Big things are happening, and this can be a great time – despite it all – to create your own metamorphosis.  So forget go big or go home.  Go big while you stay home, and don’t waste this chance to create your complete metamorphosis.

So back to my butterfly friend.  When I opened the lid, she didn’t move.  She clung to what was left of her cocoon.  This reaction seemed to affirm my reluctance – she was definitely not a racer waiting for the starting gun.  As we waited to see what she would do, the guide told me to wave the lid in the air.

“But she isn’t ready.”

“Just wave the lid in the air.  She’ll let go.”

“But what if she’s not ready?”

”Wave.  The.  Lid.”

As I waved the lid and she hung on, I imagined her feet clutching the remnants of the old life.  Then, as I waved it more forcefully, I wondered if she even knew yet that she could fly.  Suddenly, though, she seemed to realize what she was capable of, and she took off for her new life, leaving behind what she no longer needed.  Her metamorphosis was complete.

If you’re an attorney, join the Future in Focus 2020 2.0 Attorney Mastermind cohort beginning after Labor Day.  You’ll get the group and one-on-one support you need to undergo your own metamorphosis.  

Amy M. Gardner is a certified professional coach with Apochromatik specializing in career development and career transition coaching.  Amy is a former Big Law associate, partner at a mid-size law firm, and dean of students at a top 5 law school. Today she works with lawyers and other high-achieving professionals to build the career and life they want. Contact Amy directly at amy@apochromatik.com.