One time a guy walked into the gym we owned and asked if he could borrow the espresso machine which was sitting behind the counter.
He said he had applied for a high-end barista role in a nearby Melbourne café, despite having never pulled a shot.
He’d lied on his CV in order to get the chance to shine, and now he was scrambling, because in these interviews you get tested on your actual ability to make great coffee.
I knew he was doomed, because in Melbourne, they don’t mess around with this coffee stuff, and you can’t fluke a great ristretto coming from scratch.
But I appreciated his angle, so I showed him what I could, and let him use the machine for a while.
Of course, he didn’t get the gig.
When we lift a weight, cook a meal, pull a shot of espresso, we need the required skill. We can’t dry-lab this stuff. We can’t make it up.
Ideas are different though. When we sit down to write, we don’t need an idea. When we open a conversation, we don’t need an idea. We can just start.
It’s counterintuitive, but it’s the writing that can create the idea.
It’s the listening that can spark a new thought.
Sure, some things we need to prep for, and others we can just start.
