Imagine walking out of a successful job interview with the opportunity of a lifetime within your reach. The Director of HR hands you an envelope and tells you the job is yours once this single task is complete. You race to the car, rip open the envelope and on a single piece of paper read, “Successfully Grow Sourdough Starter from Scratch.” A few instructions follow, such as emailing once daily with a photograph and summary of your results. You get excited because it can’t possibly be that difficult.
Getting Started
A couple of times a year, during holiday breaks, I’d have enough time at home to pull out my recipe book. I’ve always loved the kitchen and only dreamt of spending more time there.
Now, I’ve been ordered to stay-at-home by our Governor. For the first time, I have time for the kitchen and it’s not Thanksgiving! I’m currently living the food connoisseur, work-addict, multi-tasking dream.
Creating the Opportunity
Making time to cook between juggling emails and conference calls recently became a full-time opportunity. I decided to tackle making my own Sourdough Starter. At the time, I had no idea that all of America was doing the same thing. I chose the King Arthur recipe and named him Big D. The name Big is evident since the goal was for him to get bigger, and the D is for dough. I’m creative, I know Don’t be too jealous. I thought the name was perfect, that was until he didn’t get bigger.
Begging for Results
Big D sat on my counter, perched above my kitchen sink. Day after day, he looked the same. I fed him the perfect amount of flour at the perfect time. After a week, I started feeding him twice a day, just like the directions instructed. All the whole, flour started quickly disappearing from every store shelf in America.
On day twelve, I became angry with King Arthur, who said five to ten days was the amount of time it would take to see results. I began to despise seeing my jar of failure every time I used the kitchen sink. I became frustrated by feeding Big D day and night without results. I just wanted him to do something, damn it. It didn’t help that I was quickly running out of his food.
Finding Hope
It was day fourteen, and I was determined not to fail. Big D was going to get big. I asked friends who posted pictures of bread questions and conducted a random internet research. I read article after article, which reiterated the exact steps I had taken. I couldn’t figure out what the hell I was doing wrong. It wasn’t until I came across a comment about Big D needing a warmer environment and a house set at sixty-eight degrees wasn’t warm enough, that I found hope. Well, gosh darn, that is precisely the temperature of my house.
Someone else had success sticking theirs in the oven and turning on the oven light. Big D spent the remainder of the day in my lighted oven. Then I moved him in the corner of the room and left the under-mount cabinet lights on. My sourdough starter slept with a nightlight.
Boom
During the morning of the fifteenth day, Big D was so happy he exploded.
Businesses need employees who are willing to persevere. Where do you land — would you have given up on Big D or kept on going until you achieved success?
Sometimes, after we do all the right things, we still appear to be failing. In many situations, somethings that seem easy are not. Keep fighting, search for other solutions, ask for help, but never, ever give up.
