Can you smell that? It’s the smell of a delicious mistake.
This time of year reminds me of baking cookies with my mom. The entire house filled with those sweet smells of almond, vanilla, butter, sugar, cinnamon and ginger floating through the air every time she opened the oven door.
For weeks before Christmas our house would be filled with these delicious smells. Every surface in the kitchen was covered in trays of cookies. Eventually the overflow would move into the dining room, a perfect place for sneaky little elf children to steal a cookie from the perfectly arranged tray.
Mom tried to keep us from eating everything as it came out of the oven, with one exception. Each year she would experiment with a new recipe. Sometimes the first batch out of the oven didn’t quite turn out and we got to eat them! The delicious mistake.
What a wonderful feeling, to actually feel joy about a mistake!
As I sit here writing to you, I’m enjoying my holiday cookie and wondering: why can’t we feel good about making mistakes in other areas of our lives? If we could turn every mistake into a delicious benefit, maybe we would all be more open to take risks and push ourselves and our businesses to the next level.
If nothing else, sharing your story about that time you tried to make gingerbread people and ended up with gingerbread blobs, would let others know it’s ok to try new things, and enjoy the results (no matter how unexpected) with your team of elves .
May you find the delicious benefit in your mistakes.
Merry Holidays to you and yours.
Linda DeLuca
You may also enjoy ‘A story of light and purpose.’
