Episode 2: Burnt Pancake
It is a beautiful Saturday morning and the sunlight is beginning to peek through the trees. You wake up inspired to make pancakes from scratch and have a leisurely start to your day. You pull out your grandmother's pancake recipe and begin to pull out all the ingredients. Whisking the dry ingredients into the milk, oil, and egg mixture, you add a splash of vanilla, which you measure with your heart. Your pancake batter is now ready to be ladled onto the hot griddle. One ladle full is poured into a perfect-ish circle and you wait for the bubbles to form on top to let you know it's ready to be flipped. You see the first bubble form followed by a few of its friends that decided to join the party. Thinking to yourself that you have a couple of seconds to take another sip of your freshly brewed coffee. That was all the time it took and you flipped your first pancake; burnt. You’re bummed and pointing your ladle at the burnt pancake you let it know that a bowl of cereal wouldn’t have been this cruel. Taking another sip of coffee you realize that you need to turn down your heat and adjust your timing. There’s still plenty of batter left in the bowl and after adjusting the heat, your next pancake is golden brown to perfection. The burnt pancake is an analogy for my first blog post. I had a burnt pancake.
The whole reason for the burnt pancake analogy is sometimes you have to take an idea and go for it, not knowing what the outcome will be. Will it be burnt or will it be golden? That is what I did when I thought of my first blog series. It was going to be about how to navigate as a first time vendor at a holiday market. I still think the idea has merit and will probably rework it to be published at a later date. I had to draft, edit, publish, unpublish, and go through the whole process at least another dozen times until I stopped to realize that the series was still dough-rising. Let’s call it what it was, that blog post was my first burnt pancake. I was completely frustrated and discouraged. Giving up was not an option if I wanted to pass my class. After having a moment to question what I was going to do, I knew I could still save my project. I would have to readjust and start again. To be honest, I am grateful for my first “pancake”. It allowed me to get past the “just start” phase, see what I needed to change and adapt. I can now see my golden pancake.
Lessons Learned:
We were taught in class that sometimes you have to push past the doubt and imposter syndrome. To be bold, take the first step and be ok that it is not perfect.
The project taught me that it is all a journey and learning something. In this case, I learned that it’s not too late to readjust your settings and try again.
The biggest lesson I learned was I found my writing voice and style.
I want to encourage you, if you have been sitting on an idea for a while, ask yourself what is holding you back from taking the first step. Is the idea not developed enough, or is the timing not ideal? Let me encourage you, that even though it may be scary sometimes you have to step out on faith not knowing the outcome. Taking the first step will allow you to discover what action you should take next.
Think of something you’ve wanted to start for your business. What is holding you back? Comment below, I would love to brainstorm with you.
