Tom Krieglstein tells a parable about a traveler facing adversity through three items in hot water: a carrot that shrivels, an egg that hardens, and coffee that transforms the water. He asks which response you embody when facing challenges and urges you to adopt the coffee mindset, turning hardship into something better.
Today's story is about some eggs, some coffee, and some carrots. Now, I know what you're thinking, Tom. Is this the Food Channel? No, it is not. The story goes like this. There's a traveler who walks into a roadside cafe, sits down at the counter, slumps over. The chef looks at the traveler and sees that traveler just looks defeated. The chef asks the traveler, is everything okay? And the traveler says, no, everything in my life is falling to pieces. My personal life falling to pieces. My career is falling to pieces. It seems like everything I touch fails. And the chef says, hold on. I got something for you. The chef turns around, takes a pot, fills it with water, puts it on the stove, and heats it up. As the water is heating, the chef takes some eggs, puts it into the water, takes some carrots, puts it into the water, then takes some coffee, grinds and puts it in the water. After many minutes of it all heating up and cooking, the chef shuts the stove off, puts the eggs onto one plate, carrots onto another plate, and then strains the coffee into a cup, gives it all to the traveler and says, try these. The traveler tries the carrots and spits it out. They just taste so soggy and gross. The traveler then tries the eggs and barely can bite it because they're so overcooked, they're almost like hardened rocks. And then the traveler sips the coffee. Oh, actually, that tastes really good. And the chef pulls back for a moment, looks at the traveler, and says, well, which one are you right now? And which one are you going to be the next time you face adversity? The traveler's super confused at that comment. And the chef continues on. He says, see the pot of water? That's life. The hot water, that goes in it, that's adversity. Those are the challenges, the roadblocks that we have to face. And you put the carrots, the egg, and the coffee into it, and something comes out. Which one are you? Are you the carrots that as soon as you face adversity, as soon as you hear a no, you just shrivel up into a ball of just, like, giving up? Are you the eggs? The eggs that when your heart gets broken, you refuse to open yourself up to anyone ever again because you say, nope, never again, and you become hard like a rock and don't let anyone in? Or are you the coffee? The coffee that when you go into that adverse situation, you figure out how to make the moment happen. You figure out how to make it better so that by the end of it, it's not just hot water anymore. You've actually made coffee out of it. The last couple years have been exhausting for so many of us. And I know many of you out there either have gone through or going through challenges right now in your life. Which one are you going to be when it comes up, and which one are you going to be as it's happening right now? This is Tom helping you to engage the people on your dance floor and increase your leadership skills. Till next time.
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