Behold the Turtle
2020 has certainly been a challenging year. With so much uncertainty, our world has truly been disrupted. While many have crawled into their shells and hidden from the reality, others have taken this as an opportunity to try new things and to pivot. The quote below is one I have used for years to motivate coaching clients and leadership development program participants to step out of their comfort zones.
“Behold the turtle, he only makes progress when he sticks his neck out”
— James Conant
Turtles are interesting creatures. We often compare them to the hare and the famous race in which the slow and steady turtle wins the race, but there is much more to these creatures. I had the fortunate experience of getting to watch thousands of sea turtles descend upon a beach in Costa Rica to lay their eggs. Sea turtles travel over 1,000 miles to the beach of Ostional in Costa Rica to lay their eggs. The event known as arribada, is a mass nesting which can include over 300,000 turtles. Exhausted from a long ocean journey, the turtles climb out of the ocean and make their way up onto the beach where they dig holes about three feet deep and then lay their eggs, cover the holes and return to the ocean. It is an incredible sight to see.
I was in Nosara, Costa Rica in November 2018 where I lead the LeaderSurf leadership development program. LeaderSurf is an experiential leadership development program for business leaders that combines leadership development modules, executive coaching, mindfulness, a humanitarian aid project and daily surfing lessons. I had arrived in Nosara a few days before the program participants arrived. My friend Jeff who owns The Gilded Iguana resort where we host the program invited me to join his family to visit Ostional beach to see the turtles. This was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. National Geographic was there as well and they explained that they had been waiting for weeks for this event to unfold. Fortunately for me luck was on my side and I was in the right place at the right time. We spent a few hours on the beach watching as thousands of turtles crawled out of the ocean, trudged up the beach and found their spots to dig their holes and lay their eggs. The turtles were certainly hardy and determined. Seeing this special event brought me great admiration and respect for the perseverance, determination and grit that is required to overcome hardships. The turtles do this to perpetuate their species.
Reflecting on the challenges of 2020, the turtles provide me with hope and inspiration. Now is not the time to climb into our shells and hide from the world, rather it is a time to stick our necks out, try new things and prosper. It is only when we are willing to push outside our comfort zones that we learn and grow. The turtles provide a great example of the fortitude and strength required by all of us to deal with the uncertainty in our personal and professional lives. it is my hope to return to Costa Rica in 2021 to host additional LeaderSurf programs and to have the opportunity to bring a group of participants to the magical beach in Ostional to see the turtles.