Failing Forward

This semester and especially this week I have really been pondering this idea of failure in order for success.  This is really a new concept in my mind as I am definitely in the category of perfectionist.  What's interesting to me about this concept is that I think my life has actually followed the course of experiment instead of perfectionist so I think that if I can get my mind into that frame then I will learn more from my experimental life and be able to move forward more quickly.

When I was in college in my late teens and early twenties, I was definitely in experimental mode.  My sister had known she wanted to be a teacher from the age of 5 so she had gone to college and graduated right on time and went to work as a teacher.  I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do and so I would change my major often and took classes that sounded interesting to me.  I wanted to learn everything and anything.  I'm excited now because I realize that all that experimenting did count for something and it wasn't the entire waste that I have always viewed it as.  Even though it was a failure in the sense of not getting a degree, I learned a lot and have been able to apply that knowledge throughout my life.

I'm excited at this point of my life to have a greater understanding of why it's ok to fail.  Failure is not the end of something, or at least it doesn't have to be.  Failure can actually be the starting point of getting something that was stuck, unstuck.  For years, I was overweight and I had literally tried everything to lose the weight.  While I wasn't successful in losing weight until I had weight loss surgery, all the knowledge I had gained about nutrition and exercise and how the body works remains useful to me and to the family I care for.  Every path I took to get to this point in my life contained souvenirs that I picked up and placed in my pocket along the way.

$100 challenge

The challenge is over and I am happy to report that the business was a success.  I still have people asking me if I am baking, so this might be a business I continue after this semester.  However, at this point and for this challenge, the doors are closed.  Here are my final numbers.  I sold 16 loaves of wheat bread, 6 glazed cakes, 1 unglazed cake, 12 dozen cookies, 4 dozen gluten free cookies and had 2 delivery fees.  I collected a total of $238 in revenue plus $13 in tips and delivery fees.  My costs totaled $84.75 for a total profit of $166.25.