An Unrepeatable Success Recipe?

I remember a day when our Dad decided to surprise us by whipping up some "gourmet cooking." When we sat down to eat, we were amazed. What he prepared looked good, smelled good, and tasted really, really good! Compliments were abounding, and our Dad was beaming with pride.

Finally, as we were finishing the last pieces of this sumptuous meal, we talked about how to make this a family tradition meal for special occasions. Our Dad was grinning impishly when he said that this was a once-in-a-lifetime meal that was never to be repeated again.

So naturally, we all protested. Dad finally confessed that the reason we couldn't do the meal again was not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't know how to cook the same meal again!

Incredulous, we asked why he couldn't do it a second time after having done it the first time. Did he lose, misplace or simply forget the recipe? Sheepishly, he admitted that he couldn't remember the recipe because THERE WAS NO RECIPE!

He said that he suddenly had an idea what he wanted to cook for us. He didn't plan how to do it. He mixed ingredients without measuring how much of what should be put into the pot. He was, as he put it, simply experimenting.

If it turned out bad, that was the end of that experiment. But if it turned out well, then there was no way to duplicate his successful experiment.

It was an unrepeatable recipe -- a one-hit-wonder.

And it's basically the same with our lives. We can choose to set our goals and strategize how to accomplish them. Or we could just wing it as we go along, hoping we get things right.

But if, despite not having goals and plans and by simply chancing it, things do turn out successfully, how do we duplicate that success?

If we once overcame a problem successfully, what are the chances that we will do so again when the same problem rears its ugly head again? It's so easy to say, "Well, I licked this the first time around, I can do it again!" Yes, but how? Of the many things you did that made you successful the first time, what was it exactly that you did then that you need to redo now so you can succeed once more this time?

Not only that. How do we help others - say our friends and kids - when they need to know how we did it? What do we say to them? What can we teach them? What nugget of wisdom can we pass on to them?

The advantage of using proven success principles is that we can succeed, continue to succeed and help others succeed.

Cheers!
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