Last week I was in San Diego, and I had lunch with my friend Melissa Hartwig who is the capo di familia of the Whole 30. For those unaware the Whole30 is essentially a 30-day elimination diet designed to drastically reset your eating by limiting you to plants and things that eat plants. It’s quite difficult to do, and it’s also quite effective. It’s certainly not for everybody but for those who it’s for it’s Very Good.
ANYWAY, the Whole30 strictly forbids things such as Girl Scout cookies and this is important to our story.
I was walking down the Embarcadero in SD to retrieve my car and I passed a little girl dragging a wagon full of GS cookies. As I got a few feet away from her I realized it would be a perfect opportunity to buy a gift to troll Melissa with a joke that she has heard I am sure no less than three trillion times asking if something is W30-compliant. But really they were just for her kid, or sister, or whomever.
So I doubled back to buy some cookies and I was blown away because I met myself, if I was reincarnated as a 9 year old Mexican girl.
“Hi, I’m Paloma, I’m 9 years old and I am sick and tired of this other girl in my troop winning the cookie selling contest so this year I am going to sell the most boxes.”
Say no more. I’ll take all the boxes. We chatted about how when I was a young Boy Scout I took home the top awards for selling the most popcorn in my troop by hustling in the same way, going door to door to every house for miles in every direction from my house. But that wasn’t even the best part.
Her mom was keeping an eye on her and she really wanted me to know that she had basically nothing to do with this, it was all Paloma who decided she wanted to win the contest.
But as a result ALL the girls in her troop had been spurred into action by Paloma’s drive to be number one. Their sales numbers across the board were through the roof compared to previous years just because one girl decided she wants to really start competing.
I think there’s a lesson there for all of us.
What driven pursuit of yours might drive those around you?
And if there isn’t one, why not?
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