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An orange, liquid soap and a music concert…what do these three have in common? All three have taught me some lessons in life.

The Orange
I was sitting on our sofa in Owensboro eating fruit with the family. Watching my dad peel orange after orange, one fact became repeatedly clear: these oranges had a lot of seeds. Each slice that I popped into my mouth (sometimes 2 or 3 slices at a time), yielded a few seeds that were spit out in the seed bowl. Slice after slice, and orange after orange, we enjoyed the fruit and enjoyed the medavo. So where is the lesson?

Sometimes when evaluating new endeavors (for example big career moves), nothing seems to be without challenges. This shouldn’t stop us from making those bold choices anyway. We don’t not-eat the orange, just because we have to work to filter out the seeds.

The Liquid Soap
Shortly after I moved to California, I was out shopping to furnish my new apartment. I was in the soap aisle, and the question on my mind at the time was, “which liquid soap to buy?” There was the SoftSoap, Dial, etc etc. My friend who was shopping along with me, advised me to buy two instead of one because I will surely need another one soon anyway.

While pondering this choice (one or two), I noticed the “half-gallon” liquid soap refill containers. They were 3x the cost of one liquid soap container…but had much more than 3x the soap. I was contemplating buying the refill container…but my friend was advising me to just buy the normal two small containers, “How much soap are you going to use anyway?” I made the call and bought one normal size SoftSoap, and one refill container. It was an investment…and it cost a lot more than just buying one SoftSoap.

Last week, I refilled my SoftSoap container for the 4th time since that day. Every time I look at my SoftSoap in the bathroom now, it reminds me of a lesson: invest for profit in the long-term.

The Music Concert
A few weeks back, I went to a concert. I was with a friend. We were almost late, and had just arrived, rushing to get inside. It was too crowded outside to walk side by side–we were dodging people left and right to walk. He was leading and I was behind. I noticed that I was having a hard time keeping up with him, and was falling behind easily. He would make some maneuver which was the right move for where he was, but when I would try to follow the same thing, there may be someone in my way or the situation would be slightly different, and as a result I was lagging behind.

I decided to adopt a different strategy. Instead of following right behind him, I shifted a few feet to the right and started making my own way through the people. This turned out to be much more effective, and I was able advance through the crowd at the same pace as him! I just had to make all the maneuvers myself (essentially find my own way through).

So the lesson learned? No one person or role model can teach you “the” right way to live life nor is there a set “forumla” for success. It is important to find your own calling. We must be individuals first, and only then can a partnership work well.

I hope the lessons I shared from an orange, liquid soap and a concert proved somewhat insightful for you too