Potatoes, Eggs, and Coffee Beans

This has been a busy week with some coaching sessions, a briefing call to a large international organisation for an upcoming Masterclass in London. A trip to London to meet with the senior partners of the largest litigation lawyers in the UK to discuss and confirm my Masterclass for their strategy day on the 1st March.

I also met with Rolls Royce for a discussion regarding a new Mental Resilience Masterclass I am developing. All the meetings, coaching sessions and telephone calls went really well, and I am excited by the way things are developing.

Rolls Royce Feedback

To top it all I received the feedback from my Rolls Royce Masterclass which I ran last week, and the feedback was outstanding. They found it so good that they have bought every one of the 66 attendees a signed copy of my book ‘Off the Wall’ which I am personally delivering on Tuesday.

If I just keep doing what I am doing and keep improving the future looks very good.

A great reminder

I shared this motivational story a couple of years ago about how we respond to adversity and it reminded me that we all have a choice how we respond when things don’t go well, we can collapse in a heap or grow through the experience.

Potatoes, Eggs, and Coffee Beans

“Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the boiled eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.

However, each one reacted differently.

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “

Moral: In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

Which one are you?”

A great description of our response to adversity

We all have the chance to respond to adversity in a positive way in most cases. When something like death or a divorce occurs then we can’t always choose but generally we can choose positive or negative in at least 90% of day to day situations. When we choose positive good things happen.

Quote of the week:

“Great things never came from comfort zones.” Neil Strauss

Thoughts for the week.

1. How do you respond when adversity knocks?
2. When a lemon is squeezed – lemon juice comes out
3. When you are squeezed or put under pressure what comes out of you? Is it anger, aggression, short temper?
4. The only time we grow in our comfort zone and character is when we are under pressure so embrace the pressure and let goodness come out.
5. Learn techniques to stay calm under pressure.

Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.

Warmest regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available here
http://www.jdmindcoach.co.uk/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing – UK only)