Metamorphosing towards Borderlessness as an Expat

I only just learn that lifecycle of some butterflies takes place across all continents, with every few generations, monarch butterflies fly over 2,000 miles (about 4,500 km) away from where they hatched to lay their eggs. Such borderlessness in nature.

That two-year-old on the left had no idea that one day she would metamorphose into that elder woman on the right.

And that elder woman on the right, through all the in-between space, crisscrossing countries, continents, and oceans, continues to celebrate life, to dream of a world without borders.

Whitney Johnson 's S Curve of Learning is a model that describes the different phases individuals and organisations go through when acquiring new skills or knowledge. There are three main phases in the model: the Launch Point, the Sweet Spot, and the Mastery. The Metamorph is the fourth stage in the S Curve in the transitioning phase between the Launch Point and the Mastery.

According to Johnson, the Metamorph stage is a dynamic and pivotal period. It represents the transition from the foundational learning gained during the Launch Point, which is characterised with initial struggle as an explorer and slow progress as a collector, to the accelerated growth and developing expertise of the Sweet Spot. Understanding and effectively navigating the Metamorph stage can lead to significant personal development and organisational success.

Becoming a Metamorph

The Metamorph stage is crucial as it signifies the period of transformation and rapid growth. Here are its key characteristics:

• Transition and Transformation: The Metamorph stage marks the shift from the initial, typically hesitant, progress at the Launch Point to the accelerated growth and competence at the Sweet Spot. Sweet-spotters accelerate to move from basic understanding and application as accelerators to deeper comprehension and more confident performance as Metamorphs.
• Increased Momentum: During the Metamorph stage, we continue to gain momentum. The learning process becomes more fluid, and the initial efforts begin to pay off. The repeated trial-and-errors during the Accelerator stage is metamorphosing into sustained learning and iterative progressive adaptations.
• ?Higher Engagement and Motivation: As Metamorphs experience more success and improvement, their motivation and engagement levels increase. The sense of achievement and progress fuels enthusiasm, spurring them to be more committed to the learning journey.
• ?Skill Development and Confidence Building: Skills become more refined and confidence grows. Metamorphs start to trust their abilities and are more willing to take on challenges, leading to further growth and learning.
• ?Adaptation and Adjustment: This phase involves adapting to new information and adjusting strategies to enhance learning outcomes. It's a period of significant cognitive and practical adjustment as Metamorphs integrate new knowledge with existing skills. Continuous integration and nourishing are required to emerge from chrysalises to butterflies.

Staying as a Metamorph

Staying as a Metamorph in Johnson’s S Curve of learning and growth requires focus and concentration of energy. The potential pathways towards focus are neatly captured by Rachel Botsman ’s illustration below showing a multitude of possibilities and distractions from the focus.

To sustain focus, Johnson suggests the following five focus lenses.

Focus Lens 1: Stay in the moment. This is about being deliberate in focusing on and paying attention at hand. Staying in the moment is about staying on task. Not all tasks are equally enjoyable and invigorating. For me, being mobile and feeling a sense of independence in a new town, in a new country is about going from one place to another with ease. Decades of living in Jakarta and having a driver, like most expats living in that city do, left me anxious to drive. While Oxford is well served by buses and trains, I have been focusing on getting my driving licence since beginning of the year. This has turned into quite a project. After passing my theory test, I have not been able to confirm a car test date. I was told that Covid has resulted in a huge backlog and to secure a test date, I was advised to check online regularly, especially on Monday mornings when more dates would be released due to cancellations. I have been checking diligently on Monday mornings as well as continuing with my weekly driving lessons focusing on enjoying the moment to learn to become a skilled driver in a new country. Metamorphs do not derail. Metamorphs mindfully engage with themselves and their surroundings: “If you start looking for the unfamiliar in the familiar—if you make a point of noticing what you don’t know, hidden amid the things you do—you’ll stay in the moment.” And enjoy the moment now, always.

Focus Lens 2: Triumph over your triggers. Triggers are stimuli that induce a strong emotional or behavioural responses resulting from past traumas, especially those in childhood. They can be external (environmental) or internal (thoughts, memories). We all have triggers. Triumph over our triggers requires us to be aware of them and learn to minimise and work around them. My workaround is to reflect on What is in the mind of that two-year-old? This act of reflection brings forth such empathy that decimates the triggers. You might ask your future self How would you react? Or Who do I (or someone whom I admire) want to be right now?

Focus Lens 3: Healthy body, sharp mind. You are what you eat, how you sleep, and how often you exercise. We probably know enough about food and rest fuel us to maintain a sharp mind. Exercise, as it turns out, is essential to metamorphosis. An experiment conducted at the Salk Institute compared groups of active and inactive mice and found that while the rate new neurons were born was the same for both groups, the active mice learned faster and retained more. Terrence Sejnowski of the Salk Institute concluded that “Long-term potentiation is enhanced by exercise.”

Focus Lens 4: Say no to yes. Johnson noted that “Yes” got us off the launch point. As we continue to scale the S Curve from exploring, to collecting, to accelerating, what keeps us progressing towards metamorphosing is our capacity to be selective so as not to dilute our focus. To continue to strengthen and grow as a chrysalis, Metamorphs learn to “say no to distractions and yes to accelerating momentum on the S Curve.”

Focus Lens 5: Pursue optimised tension. As in Newtonian dynamic equilibrium, optimised tension is when “you have enough resources, but not so many that you don’t need to be resourceful, creative, innovative, and persistent.” Maintaining optimised tension is the good kind of stress for Metamorphs to stay curious and engaging, to be focused a little bit longer before emerging from chrysalises to butterflies.

Are you metamorphosing?

I am at the Metamorph stage. I am settling in my new country. There is a strong sense of resourcefulness and creativity around and within me. I find myself dreaming. I dream of a world without borders, led by leaders with the right stuff that is borderless-centred leadership.

Subscribe to Just Be with Lina?to receive my next monthly newsletter, to explore how being, rather than doing, can better support us through uncertainty, living on the periphery as expats and third culture kids (TCKs). This is the fifth of a series modelling Whitney Johnson ’s S-Curve of Learning and Growth, with prompts from ChatGPT. If you want to dive deeper, contact me to explore how coaching can support you.