Have you heard the story about the group of 10 people who are offered a free ice cream cone as long as the whole group agrees on the one flavour?
The group are excited about the prospect of a free treat, so they eagerly meet to decide which icy indulgence to be treated to. Two love peppermint choc chip, one adores strawberry, three of the group are choc malt fanatics, two can’t go past pineapple and lime, one almost faints over banana chocolate swirl and the last drools at the thought of rocky road.
The meeting begins energetically with all members of the group enthusiastically presenting their cases. As the prospect of a consensus being reached before the offer expires diminishes, the dynamic discussion turns to a compromise conversation.
Disappointment sweeps over the group as they realize that no individual would have their way; the only thing keeping the group together is the temptation of a complimentary confection. Agreement is reached to work through a compromise in order to qualify for the free offer.
Reluctantly, the group agrees to order 10 vanilla ice cream cones, on the house, thank you.
When interviewed after the exercise all agree that the vanilla ice cream was nice, mainly because it was free, but they all would have preferred to pay for a cone of their own choice.
There were no winners here. The ice cream vendor gave away 10 servings to a group who didn’t really appreciate his donation.
So, how do you get what you want from life? Avoid free offers, ignore popular opinion, scorn compromise and be prepared to pay for it. Your goals are personal desires; only you know what your success will taste like. Having said that, don’t be afraid to experiment with different flavours. Your favourite concoction may not always be available so have a serious backup, don’t settle for vanilla unless you really like vanilla.
Keep experimenting. The only way to know if something works for you is to try it. If it doesn’t work you know to avoid it but if it does work, use it.
Self-discovery is a type of experimentation; in that you often find that you have skills and talents that you didn’t know were there. Dig them out, they will serve you well. If you find that you have limiting beliefs or you really want to improve a skill, you know what to work on.
Achieving a goal is often referred to as “living the dream.” If your dream is to lick the tangy peppermint ice cream as it melts and runs down the outside of the cone and biting into the frozen treat and chewing on the individual chocolate chips, that’s a wonderful dream. Live it! I’m salivating.