In order to impress my future husband with my culinary skills, I baked him an apple pie the first time we met.
Despite my lack of experience, I felt confident in my ability to bake an apple crumble pie. I got out my trusty cookbook, selected my ingredients with care, and got to work with the measuring, sifting, rolling, washing, chopping, combining, and baking.
It tasted just as an apple pie should, and it looked the part, too. It all worked out in the end.
After my husband and I finished our appointment, I brought him the cake I had baked. After seeing how much effort I had put into it, he remarked, “Did you make it for me?” That query stuck with me for a long time.
It was the first time anyone had ever created a cake for him, so I was quite curious to see how he would respond when I served it. After tasting it, he said, “I should know my grandmother’s recipe.”
There’s a good chance that any male readers will be thinking, “That’s fantastic advice!” Possibly, yes.
However, as a woman, you undoubtedly felt the same way I did.
What I mean is, that was incredibly inconsiderate of them. There’s no more juice in the battery! I put in countless hours in the kitchen for his benefit.
You have no right to tell me that there is someone who can bake a better cake than I can!
Hmpf!
It’s a tale I tell frequently. It’s my go-to line when I want to poke fun at the sexism prevalent in society or when I want to shove my husband’s alleged lack of knowledge in his face. We had a good time just joking about about minor things that have happened to me.
But my husband says that I should learn from the experience of others because my cakes aren’t the best in the world and his grandmother’s cakes were excellent.
Oh my, it’s the worst when he turns out to be right.
LESSON
It’s likely that someone else has already done what you want to do in life, or is doing something quite similar.
Also, there’s a proverb that goes something like, “Success leaves a mark.” Why go your own way if everyone else is successful, fulfilled, and content in their relationships, careers, families, and baking endeavors? Anybody can get the recipe by simply asking for it.
There are far too many people who try to gauge their own potential by comparing themselves to the efforts of those who have failed.
Those who consider marriage a bad idea due to high rates of divorce also learn this lesson from looking at stories like Uncle Joe’s, who went into business for himself and promptly lost everything.
This is completely insane.
So long as Martha Stewart can do it, so can I. And then there are the hundreds, maybe thousands, of naysayers who insist that you simply cannot bake a cake, that this method of making cakes will never succeed, and that nothing will ever change unless you begin and end. Why? Simply because Martha did it and gave me the recipe.
See, you receive the things you focus on. But instead of focusing on the naysayers, we should learn from those who came before us and blazed a trail.
Do something
Are there parts of your life where you aren’t satisfied with the outcomes? Do something!
Our next move is to go out and find those who have already achieved your goals. Keep all other voices out!
You wouldn’t take career advice from a McDonald’s burger maker, and you won’t take it from a doctor. You will only take the suggestions of people who have already achieved their goals. Complete halt.