Fishermen never put a lid on the crab bucket.

There’s a story behind that.

This is your daily message from Chad number 1188 to upgrade your mental game today by telling yourself a better story, because the most important story you hear is the story you tell yourself. This message is dedicated to the remarkable Rob Olson.

Here’s the upgrade:

You think it means something’s wrong with you when people get crabby the moment you start changing, but upgraded thinking knows it just means you started climbing.

Here’s the story:

Drop one crab in a bucket and it climbs right out. A single crab, given a wall and a little patience, finds the rim. But a bucket full of crabs will never escape. That’s why fishermen never bother with a lid — not because crabs can’t climb, but the group won’t let one of their own get away. The moment one gets close to the top, the others reach up with their claws and drag it back down. Not to help it. Not for any reason at all. Just because that’s what’s in the bucket, and it doesn’t like watching one of its own get out.

Conformity is the biggest thief of an extraordinary life. Rollo May was always quoted by Earl Nightingale: “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.” Most people don’t choose a life. They drift into one, doing roughly what the person next to them is doing, for no better reason than maintaining everyone in the same bucket. And if someone seems to have a mind of their own, those around are sure to drag him or her back down.

What keeps most people in the bucket is two questions on a loop: What will other people think? What will other people say? Can I offer you a third question to ask yourself: Why should I care? The pull isn’t proof you’re doing something wrong. It’s usually proof you’re doing something worth pulling on. Keep climbing anyway.

The better story to tell yourself is, “The claws on my ankle are signal I’m doing something right.” Lao Tzu wrote, “Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” Maintain a mind of your own. Ignore the claws. Keep climbing.

Tell me a story about a bucket you climbed out of, to fromchadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and tell them, “The people pulling on you are proof you’re close to the rim, keep climbing.” You can get a free copy of my book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to fromchad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message and hundreds of others are always available at http://www.fromchad.com.