I was attending my CFP lesson last week when the lecturer told the class a very interesting story. It is actually a real experiment done by scientists many years back.
The Monkey Experiment
What the scientists did was to put 5 monkeys into a cage. There is a pole standing in middle of the cage and a banana hangs at the top. Soon, a monkey will start to climb up the pole towards the banana. As soon the monkey touches the pole, the rest of the monkeys are sprayed with icy cold water. Not long, another monkey will do the same and the rest are sprayed with cold water. This process is done repeatedly after all monkeys are being sprayed at least once. Soon, the monkeys avoid the pole.
The scientist now put away the cold water. They also remove a monkey and replace with a new one. An interesting phenomenon starts to happen. As soon as the new monkey attempts to climb the pole and to his horror, the other four attack him! He tries again and gets attacked. Now he knows once he tries to climb the pole, he will get attacked.
Next, they remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the pole and gets attacked. Interestingly, the previous newcomer takes part in the attack with enthusiasm! Similarly, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth.
Now, all the monkeys are attacking the pole climber without knowing why. All of them avoid the pole. However, none of them were sprayed with cold water. As far as they know, this is “how things are done here”.
What can we learn from this experiment?
The story brought me back to 7 years ago when I was taking insurance exams to be a Financial Consultant. At that time, so many friends around me advise against that career decision. They were telling me horrific stories of the business and how many of their friend’s friend who tried and failed.
BUT, like the monkey newcomers who were never sprayed, they never attempted the business and were not a Financial Consultant for a single day. It is the just like “how things are done here”. The moment I wanted to climb my “career pole”, they “attack” me.
Lucky for me, I reached for the pole, climbed and enjoyed the fruit. Victory!
“Don’t let others tell you what you can’t do.” The advice I always give me team members.
So…are you a smart Monkey?
