Recipes for Success

I have a friend who likes to believe he will be a success in business. I believe in him. I trust he will succeed. But I do caution him to use a recipe that will help him achieve his goals. The recipe is something like this: 1 tbsp Inspiration 1 tbsp Optimism 5 cups Perspiration 2 tbsp Failure 1 cup Persistence 1 cup Reality Sprinkle with Purpose and bake for as long as you need to succeed. I am my own worst critic. I have a bunch of shortcomings. I m not as organized as I should be. I am not as focused as needed. I like shiny stuff. All combined it makes success difficult, but it also makes it even more rewarding. Despite my obstacles internally, I still find a way to make successes out of my work even when failures appear as well. I believe, and some weird study out of a university says, that success is made up of learning lessons from continually failing. Reality hurts, but it trains us to either evolve or become extinct. In some cases, extinction is good. Look at DDT. At the time, it was the wonder powder that would save farming. Shortly (some 80 years later) there after, it was vilified and was banned for health concerns. Paul Hermann Müller developed this product and won a Nobel Prize for it. Fast forward a few years later, and he's a villain, or at least his product was... The point is that trial and error, even if over long periods of time, pushes us further to continually develop and redevelop our initiatives for the better. While at some point Mr. Müller was a genius, and rightfully so, but his work did not end there. It spawns hundreds of other young scientists to push through his work and carry on with their own. They apply the recipe and hammer out their products so we, as a community, can further challenge ourselves and our ideas as to their merit. As my friend likes to tell me, he "will be" a success. And I agree, as long as he accepts defeat during the process as a drive to further development.

Impact Washington making an Impact

So there is this lovely lady name Kristin Kautz. Kristin is a soft spoken, kind woman who 'works' for Impact Washington. I say 'work' because I do not believe she truly works at what she does, rather, she puts forth enjoyable efforts. Her demeanor, passion, and thoughtfulness are evident from the day you meet her, and while I know it is a traditional working job, she exhibits anything but typical in her outward, smiling appearance. Now, understand, her 'putting forth enjoyable effort' is a term that should be valued by all of us, and we should all be so lucky to share in such a splendid way of carrying on about our day. I do not, however, mean to diminish her work in any way, only to recognize that she is a rare person who throughout her interactions is sincerely happy to be doing what she is doing. How many of us can say that? How many of us say to ourselves everyday that we made a difference somewhere, or for someone? I truly believe she can, and I am proud to have been able to meet her and engage her with LUSB. We will be a better organization because of her, and for that, I am truly grateful... Thanks Kristin! www.impactwashington.org