Success At Last!

It is found in human nature, patience, vulnerability, and trust. Those three core values are what I find adequate to succeed. When I was a little girl and lived in my home country, Congo, Brazzaville, my grandmother owned a bakery, and she made Beignets for me to take to school. That was my almost everyday lunch. She started with the all-purpose flour and dumped it in a bowl, and I watched as it resembled a mountain of snow. Next, she took her measuring cups and tossed two-thirds of sugar and two tablespoons of salt. Later, She grabbed the active yeast and mixed it all. After she finished mixing, she cracked two eggs, and I watched the yoke collect the flour as it rolled down the mountain of snow. She then added a little bit of both warm water and milk. When she finished mixing the flour, she closed the bowl tightly and waited for the dough to rise for about an hour or two. In between those times, she would calmly wait on her chair while reading her newspaper, and I would constantly run in the kitchen to check if it was ready yet. Little did I know patience and trusting the process. I forgot all about the recipe, and I also forgot that this wasn’t my grandmother’s first time making beignets. It was up until she realized I had been in the kitchen too long staring at the dough and wanting it to rise, so she walked up to me and said, “As long as the yeast is in, it is bound to rise. Be patient and wait.” That’s when I began to see the bubbles forming in the dough as if it were trying to breathe. That’s when I knew it was ready to become beignets. Thinking about it now as I am old enough to understand and develop the meaning behind her words, it translates to, you are bound to succeed with enough effort implied into work but only with patience, Vulnerability, and trust.

A proverb says, “a house built on a strong foundation won’t fall,” or at least something like that. I believe that solid foundations are not built in a day. It takes commitment and patience. Patience is fortitude; it is the art of balancing your power and staying in the lane in which you are bound to walk. “Patience is quiet hope and trust that things will turn out right. You wait without complaining. You are tolerant and accepting of difficulties and mistakes. You picture the end in the beginning and persevere to meet your goals. Patience is a commitment to the future” (Sean Glaze, n.d. pg.9). Being able to face challenges and defeat those challenges requires strong character. During the making of beignets, my grandmother calmly waited for the dough to rise. Her thoughts seemed unbothered because she could depict in her mind the outcome of her hard work.

“... vulnerability is our most accurate measurement of courage,” says Dr. Brené Brown in one of her TED talks (Justin Grossman, n.d. 2019). Most people picture Vulnerability as a weakness. As humans, we worry about our image and what people think of us. It’s a constant challenge in our minds, of us fighting our thoughts. During the making of the beignets, my grandmother trusted in the knowledge she had to make them. She leaned in on her recipe and her experience in making them. On the other hand, I have never made them, so I had no clue what was going on. Lacking my grandmother’s knowledge, experience, and recipe, I constantly checked on it while she said with assurance in her work. Now that I think about it, if I had made myself vulnerable to learning, I, too, would have been sitting and waiting patiently. It takes Vulnerability to be courageous, and it takes courage to learn.

Within Vulnerability, trust is found. My grandmother made herself vulnerable to information and learning that information. A person who holds knowledge holds power, the power to influence. It’s like hiring someone to work for a company. An employer receives two candidates who say they qualify for the job as an electrician, and the employer cannot simply take their word for it, so he demands a resume from each candidate. The first candidate provides the employer with only one year’s worth of experience, and the second candidate provides him with a degree in electrical science, experience, and a cover letter. The employer comes to a conclusion, that he has to entrust the candidate he will choose with his company’s reputation and image. Who would he choose? If it were me, I would choose the candidate with the best qualifications for the job. Someone who made themselves vulnerable to their work. Someone who works with a passion for what they do. As Dr. Brené Brown once said, “Vulnerability is at the core, the heart, the center of meaningful experiences.” (Justin Grossman, n.d. 2019).

Patience, Vulnerability, and trust are what I find adequate to succeed at anything I do. I believe in those three core values. I believe in holding our ground until the ride is down. The quiet hope that reassures our minds and strengthens our hearts is the kind of peace that helps build and maintain a strong foundation. Just like my grandmother once told me, “As long as the yeast is in, it is bound to rise. Be patient and wait.” and in my translation, it means, you are bound to succeed with enough effort implied into work but only with patience, Vulnerability, and trust.

Citation:

Second Paragraph, Patience: https://greatresultsteambuilding.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Identifying-Core-Values.pdf

Third Paragraph:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/03/11/vulnerability-is-not-a-weakness-its-core-to-effective-leadership/?sh=2fc9fa15503f