Metamorphosis is the process of rebirth when a caterpillar changes into a beautiful butterfly. The caterpillar hangs from a branch, sheds it’s old skin and changes into a chrysalis. It stays in this state from five to fifteen days depending on the temperature. During this time it’s literally changing from the inside out. It’s redefining itself from a creature which slowly walked on the ground and ate leaves to one that now can fly through the air and sips nectar from the flowers. That’s a dramatic change. That's a metamorphic moment.

The question for you is, "Have you had your metamorphic moment?"
I know I have, a number of times. Let me share just one.

In 1969 I got a degree in finance from the University of Missouri. I was going to become a millionaire before I was thirty. Unfortunately, Vietnam got in the way and said, "No, you’re going to become an Artillery Officer." After my two year Army stint, I got back on track and ended up in accounting. I wore a suit and tie every day, balanced the books, debited and credited, but it just didn’t seem quite right. And while I wasn’t looking into other jobs, I was always open to new ideas.

I was in accounting for a couple of years and one day I was talking to our mailman and he happened to mentioned that the Post Office was opening up the Postal Exam. Now, I really liked our mailman. He was jovial, fun and always willing to help out on the latest project.

About this time, I had bought a new, but very old house. I had a half-acre of land, I was getting into gardening and fruit trees and I was open to redefining who I was.

Because I was an accountant, I said, "Well, let me figure this out," and I got out my accounting paper and figured out the debits and credits, the pluses and minuses and said, "This doesn’t look too bad. I can make just as much money as a mailman, as I am as an accountant." So, I decided to take the exam, and ultimately became a mailman.

I turned my back on four years of college education and two years of accounting experience, to turn to a much simpler lifestyle.

What I liked about being a mailman was I had time to think, time to write, time to read, time to explore. We had half the mail we get today. The routes were much easier and there wasn’t much pressure on the carriers. The term "GOING POSTAL" was unknown at that point. We were all happy-go-lucky.

Now, I'm sure my parents weren’t too happy about the event. I mean, after all they had just spent a nice chunk of money educating me in finance and now I’m giving it all up. But, as they say, a man’s gotta do, what a man’s gotta do. Or as a friend would say, "A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do."

It was definitely a metamorphic moment in my life.
Today you see the Metamorphic process all around us in the new century. People and companies are redefining how they do business.

Last week I wanted to buy a book and was planning on driving to Barnes and Noble and pick it up. But it was raining outside and I didn’t want to get wet if I didn’t have to, and so I had second thoughts about the project. So instead, I got on my computer, looked up the book on Amazon.com and bought the book online and saved about $5.00 in the process. It was delivered to my mailbox three days later. That’s a metamorphic change in the book business.

I now watch 95% of my movies through "Netflix." They send out three DVD's at a time and now my wife and I rarely go out to the traditional movie theatre. That's a metamorphic change in the movie business.

The GAO put out a report saying the Postal Service is going to lose seventeen billion dollars in the future if they keep on doing the same old thing. They're losing first-class postage to email and direct billing.

Recently, I signed up for a long distance phone service online. My bill is online and the amount is charged against a credit card, which again, I can see online. There's no paper involved.

If the Post Office is to survive, they had better start expanding and growing and redefining who they are, where they’re going and start thinking like a butterfly instead of a caterpillar.

Here are the questions to ask yourself.
Are you changing and growing?
Have you gone through a metamorphic moment?
Are you willing to go through a metamorphic moment ?

It's not something you do every day, but if you don't like who you are or don't like the box you're in, then maybe it’s time to go through the Monarchs process.

Maybe it’s time to become the Monarch which you really are.