The Cookie That Almost Wasn't.

Today's Marketing Cookie was almost thrown out the window.

Wow! You won't believe what just happened to me. I had been working for an hour already on today's cookie when I inadvertently hit the BACK button through a quick-key combination on my keyboard. This action erased everything I had written. As the screen refreshed in front of me, my jaw dropped to the floor and I first felt a feeling of total shock, saying, "What the heck just happened!?" Upon realizing that I had just deleted an hour's worth of writing, a heavy feeling of extreme disappointment traveled up my spine as I said, "Uh oh." True story.

Realizing I would have to start over, I could feel my neck turning red and my forehead getting hotter than a tin roof in July. "Start over???" I said to myself, "No way! It's already 6:30 am and there's no way I can write anything before I have to leave for work." Just before I could close my laptop and walk away, something amazing occurred to me. I had just experienced a real-life example of the wisdom found in today's cookie.

First, the shock of terrible news was followed by processing my loss. I felt immense disappointment and anger. Then, I really wanted to quit and walk away and hope to forget it ever happened. Then I just started typing again. I survived my mini catastrophe, dusted off the disappointment, and pressed onward... and now here we are.

The truth is, no one is exempt from receiving bad news. Whether it be financial troubles, strained relationships, stress at work, or health problems, no amount of preparation, prayer, or good citizenship will excuse any of us from difficult circumstances. Life happens. It just does.

While you cannot avoid the trials of life, you can absolutely control what you choose to do about them. If you were me this morning, what would you have done after losing an hour's worth of writing? Would you pick up and press on, or would you throw up your hands, quit for the day and walk away? Would you take a deep breath and forge forward, or would you become enraged, flip tables, and throw your laptop out the window?

In the first rendition of today's cookie, I agreed with today's assessment of genius. I noted the perseverance, endurance, and patience of great inventors like Edison and Einstein, who toiled until they discovered success. It was a no-brainer. However, since I've erased the grand examples of patience and genius, and am now left with a little story of the Cookie that almost wasn't, I'm not so certain if today's fortune still applies as it says, "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."