Don't Cry Over Scrambled Eggs

Sometimes the best dinner is breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, waffles, biscuits and gravy. You name it. I can eat breakfast at dinner.

Maybe on top of the list is omelets. Eggs, cheeses, peppers, tomatoes, onions . . . getting hungry yet?

Last Sunday, I was making an omelet. Two eggs, a combination of swiss, Havarti, and Monterey jack cheeses, fresh green peppers, and bacon bits promised to become a great dinner.

I poured the scrambled egg mixture into the hot skillet, added the cheeses and other toppings, waited for it to cook most of the way through, used my spatula to flip one side on top of the other, and . . . then I had scrambled eggs.

Despite my best efforts, I have not perfected the art of flipping an omelet without it falling apart. I’ve successfully turned an omelet maybe three times in my life. That doesn’t, of course, stop me from trying.

The good news is that the omelet-turned-scrambled-eggs tastes just as good as a perfectly turned omelet. Yes, it tasted as wonderful as it sounds! I enjoyed my breakfast-for-dinner tremendously.

Sometimes this happens in my office, too. No, I’m not scrambling eggs on a hot plate, but there are times when I create something for the business that doesn’t turn out the way I had hoped. But it still works.

I create a marketing piece that doesn’t look like I originally planned, but it’s still effective.

I run out of time to write the super detailed proposal I was planning to put together, but the abbreviated version still wins the business.

I’m not as articulate as I want to be in a speech, but participants still respond to my offer.

I’m not suggesting by this that you shouldn’t do your best and keep trying to improve. Remember, I continue to try perfecting my omelet flip. I am suggesting that most of your efforts will pay off even when they aren’t perfect. Don’t waste time and money working toward perfection at the expense of getting business results.

If I threw out every omelet that I didn’t flip perfectly, I’d waste a lot of eggs . . . and probably be awfully hungry. Do your best, but don’t wait for perfection. Enjoy your tasty, scrambled eggs.

Mark Carpenter helps people who want to improve the impact of their messages by improving their ability to convey powerful experiences as stories. He is a consultant, facilitator, coach, and co-author of the best-selling book "Master Storytelling: How to Turn Your Experiences Into Stories that Teach, Lead, and Inspire." www.master-storytelling.com