Happy last Tuesday of February!

Since coming to India, I’ve had to deal with a lot of mosquitoes. On some nights, I had to slap myself on the face several times because they flew too close to my ear while I slept.

Despite the pain and annoyance, there are three admirable mosquito behaviors that I feel can apply to our human pursuits too:

😈 Be Shameless

There was a time when I only managed to swat the mosquito away instead of killing it.

Despite being physically thrown off-course mid-flight, that mosquito kept coming back.

It even managed to land a few bites when I wasn’t paying attention.

If a mosquito can experience multiple successes after a setback, so can you.

Apply to that role you were rejected from last year—with a better strategy and profile. Pursue different curiosities and endeavors until one sticks.

🗺️ Be Strategic

I’m usually targeted when I’m asleep in bed or sitting (somewhat) still while working at my desk. In these scenarios, my response times are much slower, so the mosquitoes have a higher chance of having their fill without incident.

If I move my limbs around often enough, they’ll simply move on to easier targets—the less active people in the same room.

From this behavior, it seems that mosquitoes choose and optimize their targets based on three principles:

• There are many opportunities, and there’s no harm in trying all of them.
• Once you know “what’s out there”, double down on those one or two opportunities that will reap the most reward for the least effort
• Put in enough effort for a long enough period of time to reap the rewards you want

💨 Be Speedy

Singapore has mosquitoes too. They’re too quick to kill—they fly, bite, and move on quickly.

Meanwhile, the mosquitoes in India are huge—some of them are almost 1cm long.

Perhaps because of their weight, they also fly much slower, making themselves easy targets for my clumsy hands.

For higher chances of success, take immediate action.

If you face setbacks, regroup quickly and continue to take action.

Anyway, despite these admirable behaviors, I don’t like mosquitoes. The bites are itchy and distracting; some of them can also become painful and swollen.

I got some repellent over the weekend, which has helped with my sleeping situation. I still get bites from time to time, but at least I’m not slapping myself in my sleep.

Stay safe, and see you next week!