The Mashed Potato Story

Have I ever told you The Mashed Potato Story? Well, it goes like this:

Years ago, I worked as a personal chef cooking meals for local families. Some clients were a joy to work with. Others were not.

One week, a joy-client and a not-joy-client each asked me to make mashed potatoes, so I made two batches. The joy-client loved them, and couldn’t stop talking about how light & fluffy they were. The not-joy-client complained that they were gluey.

Next week, same requests. Once again, joy-client was thrilled and not-joy-client was not thrilled. I wasn’t surprised because I tasted the potatoes myself and they were completely different. Same ingredients, same technique, same cook, same day, different outcomes.

It finally dawned on me - the only difference was the energy I brought to the task. It was a pleasure to work with joy-client, so their potatoes were light as air. It was a chore to work with not-joy-client, so their potatoes weren’t.

Here’s the learning: the energy we bring to what we do determines the outcome. 

When I met with my clients this week, we talked about how we’re moving into the Spring season. It’s a time of planting the seeds of what you want to grow, meaning it’s time to start turning the ideas you dreamed up over the winter into actual offers and programs. 

I encouraged them to pay attention to the energy with which they planted their seeds / created new offers, programs, ideas. If you're feeling excitement and joy as you build something, people will notice. If you’re feeling a sense of “I really should do this / I have to do this,” people will notice that too. One guess which offer will fly off the shelves and which will join gluey mashed potatoes in the compost bin.

I have lots of new things I’m creating, including deep-dive private experiences and new adventure programs. I am EXCITED about them, which means others will be excited too.