Lessons from the Grill
If at first you don't succeed, try something else. I know it sounds like the advice of a
disgruntled uncle, but it's spot on.
I like to eat. Unfortunately, that doesn't always translate into cooking well. A few weeks
ago I turned a turkey burger--yes, I like turkey burgers--into a darkened globe of meat,
pulsing and leaking its juices like a volcano ready to explode. I accepted my losses and
struggled through the charred bird. Not too bad.
Just the other day I craved another. Ingenious fellow that I am, I followed the same steps
as before. I turned the heat too high, checked the meat too little, and created a monster.
I did the same thing, so I was forced to eat the same result.
This happens all the time. People crave something, but their first attempt fails. Their
reaction? Try again, committing the same errors as before. In turn, they get the same
failed results.
When talking burgers, the consequences aren't that intense. But what about a first home, a
better grade, a saved marriage, the next job? When the stakes rise, the consequences can be
deadly serious.
It's only logical to try a new approach when the first one fails. Allow me to shatter the
illusion: human beings are seldom logical. We're emotional creatures. After picking up the
pieces of a failed plan, we either walk away defeated or charge back in with the same plan
of attack.
This doesn't mean logic can't win. It can. But to do so, you have to pull a subconscious
process to the surface and deliberately override the emotion.
When your plans fail, never charge back in with the same ones. Learn from your mistakes and
cook a better burger.
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