I was an awesome caterpillar. And I did what caterpillars do best – I consumed. Books, blogs, every theory in sight. Chomp, chomp, chomp, I gobbled them up. I became fat with ideas and was happy to boot. There was just one problem. I didn’t know I was a caterpillar. And a caterpillar can’t keep consuming forever. I had grown enough and ready or not, was about to change.
I used to assume something fluffy and magical happened in a cocoon. But, I recently learned that the reality is much different. The fat caterpillar literally breaks down into mush. He consumes what he no longer needs and rebuilds himself from scratch. When ready, he must fight his way out of the cocoon. The struggle to escape is the final stage of his metamorphosis. Only then, can he stand triumphant, inflating his wings, ready for flight.
For the caterpillar, this all happens in a handful of days, but for me, it took over 9 months. In that time, I too turned to mush. I digested everything: the path of my career, why games work, the uniqueness of my family, the love of my wife. I spent a lot of nights, laying in the dark, staring at the ceiling. I made some products that failed, but I gave some speeches that didn’t. And I began to study the stories in my own life. I realized I didn’t want to do just one single thing. I wanted to combine it all: business, family, games, and life. I broke through my cocoon. Metamorphosis complete. I had become Gigi, ready for flight.