Saturday, September 02, 2006

Success: S*U*C*C*E*S- Segmenting

My wife is an incredible cook. I don’t say that because there is a good chance she might read this; this woman is absolutely fabulous in the kitchen. Anyone who has had the privilege to partake of her masterpieces can also attest to this woman’s culinary mastery. It’s almost unnatural. I describe her food as “wicked good” because the feelings one receives while eating her food cannot be wholesome and must be sinful somehow.

She hasn’t made a deal with the devil (that I know of) but instead, she pays attention to the directions. She looks at a recipe and actually looks at the individual ingredients and at each individual step of the process. She really thinks each of them out. Why is it done this way? Why is that ingredient important?

A batch of cookies, therefore, is not something she just “whips” together. She takes care of each step. If she has determined that something needs to be beat for 20 minutes, she beats it for 20 minutes. She sets the timer and does exactly 20 minutes. If she finds that a certain extract makes something tastes better, she adds that extract, at the right time and in the exact amount. She really takes care of details. I’d share more that she has let me in on, but they are really her secrets.

The bottom line is this: she does so well on her food preparation because she breaks down the whole process into steps. She treats each part of the process with thought, care and perfection. When the process is all done, the proof, as the saying goes, is in the pudding.

Not only does breaking things down into parts make the task seem more possible to accomplish, but breaking it down and treating each detail with care and as a end in and of itself assures a greater result at the end of the journey.

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