Five Life Lessons From The Mighty Octopus

What we can learn from nature’s troublemakers.

7 min readDec 18, 2020

Source: pic via istockphoto

I wanted to challenge myself: can I write a self-improvement article about a random animal?

It seemed like a good way to break out of the repetitive content I see.

What can we learn from the octopus? You’d be surprised.

Pixar wasn’t exaggerating in Finding Nemo

It’s a known fact that octopi (plural for octopus) need a very secure tank, particularly in pet stores.

Without one, they’ll wait until the store closes and sneak into other tanks that are full of yummy fish. They have the whole room marked.

Inky, on the other hand, had no reason to escape. As an octopus in New Zealand’s National Aquarium, he had a massive, well kept, beautiful tank. He got lots of attention. He had no natural predators. He was guaranteed healthy meals.

Yet, in the off-hours, Inky still made an epic break for freedom. After discovering the octopus missing, managers conducted an investigation and concluded he’d crawled across the floor and slid through a pipe that emptied out into the ocean.

The story garnered international attention, which actually puzzled the aquarium workers.

Inky was a crafty octopus. But nothing he did was outside the norm for their species. Octopi handlers have stories for days.

Octopus takeaway number #1

If you feel like you’re living in a cage, it won’t matter how nice you make it, it’s still a cage. Make a break for it. A bit of danger is necessary for true freedom.

Conan the octopus picks a bad opponent

My friend Jeff worked at an aquarium supply store and had a pet octopus named Conan. He shared a 90-gallon fish tank with a number of other creatures.

Like most octopi, Conan was very active, troublesome, and intelligent. Jeff had to replace a number of parts inside the fish tank, including the filter, because the Conan enjoyed pulling things apart. Octopi are very much like a smart working-dog: if you don’t give them a job, they’ll create one for themselves.

Unfortunately, this worked against Conan because he also shared his fish tank with a lionfish:

pic via Wikimedia commons

The two of them don’t usually have problems in the wild or aquariums. But increasingly, Jeff saw Conan messing with the lionfish. This wasn’t good. Lionfish are venomous.

Periodically, Jeff would jump up and shout, “Oh crap, Conan’s messing with the lionfish again.” Then he’d get a stick to separate them or simply tap on the window.

Before he could make a change, he walked in on what looked like a crime scene. The octopus, given too much free time, had attempted to eat the lionfish and died midway through his meal.

Octopus takeaway #2

Even the octopus wasn’t immune to the adage, “An idle mind is the devil’s playground.” So if you are bored, channel that energy towards something productive. Also, if you aren’t sure if something is safe to eat, don’t eat it to find out.

The most incredible thing about octopus

The most infamous hell-raising octopus was Otto. In 2008, he was caught juggling his aquarium mates out of boredom.

He chucked rocks at other aquariums he didn’t like and broke them. He got annoyed with the bright lights in his tank so he leaned out of the tank and squirted water at them, shorting the circuits on three different occasions.

But what makes this even more amazing? Nobody taught this Otto these tricks. An octopus is born separate from its mother. It goes out into the world, helpless and nearly microscopic. It learns everything from scratch. And it does so in a very short life span of 2–4 years.

Octopus takeaway #3

Stay curious and active. Don’t be intimidated by new a new problem. If you watch an octopus opening a jar to get a shrimp, it never gets it right on the first try. It tries lots of different angles and pressures. It is patient. It doesn’t have an ego. An octopus is its own tier 5 helpdesk.

Nature’s trouble-making introvert

Most octopi are extremely standoffish to their own kind. They prefer their own space. We’ll chalk it up as social anxiety.

Scientists did an experiment. They put two octopus into a fish tank. Both of them sat on opposite sides of the tank. But when scientists added MDMA (ecstasy) to the water, the two octopus spent eight hours with their arms wrapped around each other, feeling each other up.

I couldn’t help but relate to them on some level. No, I haven’t done ecstasy. But I’m a heavy introvert. I’ve always felt stigmatized for not liking the company of others. Like other introverts, I compensated by drinking alcohol to loosen up around people. It eventually caused a lot of problems in my life.

Octopus takeaway #4

You shouldn’t require substances to help you adapt to life. And if you find yourself in situations where you need self-medicate, I suggest you swim in new waters.

The art of hunting and fighting like an octopus

Octopi aren’t particularly powerful. They don’t have devastating weapons like a shark. They aren’t faster than the fish they hunt. But they compensate for this with their stealthy intelligence. In fact, octopi are smart in ways that scientists are still trying to classify.

An octopus is an invertebrate, with a decentralized nervous system, nine brains, two hearts, and blue blood.

They often manifest their intelligence in unusual ways: cloaking and shapeshifting to impress, trick, or evade their foe. An octopus uses its entire body to sense its environment, to build and use traps. It knows it can win if it changes the terms of competition.

The blanket octopus takes it to an entirely different level. Most are equipped with strong immunity to jellyfish stingers. The octopus, keen on this fact, will often rip the tentacle off of a manowar and use it as a sword to defend themself. Truth truly is stranger than fiction.

Octopus takeaway #5

Be resourceful with the environment you operate in. Your life’s aquarium is really the only thing you can control. So don’t worry about what is going on in the tank next to you.

Conclusion

I have a pet theory that there are water planets where cephalopods fly spaceships and work with computers. They aren’t any smarter than our octopi. They just figured out how to connect the dots. So we should start taking notes now.

5 Lessons Recap

If you are feeling stuck in a cage, break out and change it. A little danger is necessary to pursue your dreams.

Use boredom is an opportunity to be productive, not destructive, or wasteful (impulse eating).

Troubleshoot your problems with steady curiosity and patience. Become a master solver like an octopus.

Don’t use chemicals to make life livable.

Stay resourceful and worry about the immediate waters around you. Create advantages that play to your strengths.

Also, use your new knowledge for good. Don’t break someone else’s figurative aquarium. Or squirt on their lightbulbs.

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