The Missing Element

I can’t count how many times I have said or heard others say, “I’d give anything if I could play the piano /draw pictures/ hit a baseball/ invest in real estate/get women/get men like you.”

The raw truth for most of us is that the  “giving anything” is a blatant self-deception.  We live in a world which treasures immediate gratification over sacrifice and determination.

This trend took hold with the great centuries’ of invention –  electricity, radios, steam engines, combustion engines, cars, planes, TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, microwave ovens, electric typewriters, word processors, computers, cell phones and a host of other quasi-necessities and creature comforts of modern life.

Most of us would give next to nothing and want to pay next to nothing for excellence.  I’m guilty too of searching the Internet for the latest gadgets and shortcuts to wealth and happiness.

The story goes that a woman who married wealth and dabbled in the arts one day entered a five-star restaurant and ordered a delectable meal from the renown chef.  The meal came, she devoured it with gusto and then asked to meet the chef in the kitchen.  He reluctantly agreed.

The patron congratulated the chef on the excellent ragout, wrote down the recipe crudely, then went home gleefully to try out her newfound delicacy.  It tasted rather plain when she did it.

A few months later she went back to the same restaurant, ate another delicious meal, and asked the waiter to call out the chef.  He came, she praised him, and he turned to go back to his duties.

The rich woman then quickly said:  “Excuse me, sir.  I tried out your recipe that you gave me a few months ago and it didn’t taste as good as yours.  I followed your recipe to the letter.”

The chef looked at her ironically and said:  “Yes, madam, you did follow the recipe as prescribed.  But you must have left out one vital element…you forgot to throw yourself into the the act.”

If you lack passion and enthusiasm, don’t expect your customers or prospects to catch on fire about you or your company.  For some unfair reason most people can see through fraud and deception perpetrated to turn a profit.

Throw your heart and soul into what you do and let the chips fall where they may.  I’m reasonably certain you will eventually come out.