In the ad biz, if you hang around for the strategy calls, you will inevitably hear someone invoke the “frog in hot water” metaphor to describe a process of incremental change—increase in price, decrease in service, whatever it may be. And it’s generally done in a knowing, offhand way, like, “You know, boiling frogs, am I right?”
If you’re not familiar with this bit of wisdom, it goes like this: put frogs in a pan of water and increase the heat ever so slowly; they won’t notice the change but will simply hang out until they boil to death.”
Fortunately, some people at the Smithsonian decided to actually test it out and, as you would imagine if you thought about it for a second, it turns out that, first of all, it’s no simple matter to get frogs to sit in a pan of water no matter how comfortably tepid it might be. And, should you somehow succeed in getting them to relax in your pan, and you then begin to increase the temperature a fraction of a degree at a time, the frogs will simply jump out the moment they become uncomfortable.
Of course they do. Frogs are very capable, in their way.
The real question is, who came up with this metaphor? And what does it have to do with Tanja?
Temperature control is big for T. these days. Mostly it’s a spectral chill in her extremities—cool hands, feet that feel to her like ice but are perfectly warm to the touch.
Less frequently it’s heat—yesterday her arms felt sunburnt to an extreme, today they itch. It’s almost as if her body is running through all the available sensations to see what’s working, calibrating and recalibrating all the gauges.
Tanja’s conscious mind is very much perplexed by these changes. She wonders what the hell is going on. But again and again she comes back to trusting in that other, less conscious, part of the equation. The body knows what it is doing and there is no percentage in second guessing it right now.
We’ve been underestimating frogs for decades. Let’s not do the same to Tanja, am I right?
14 days left in the countdown!
Tanja power 