When we get a taste of something amazing, a new innovation, a work of art, an incredible song, it’s easy to forget that often, we’re tasting something fully baked. The fact that it’s fully baked is so obvious that it hides in plain sight.

But before it was fully baked, it was a bunch of separate, raw ingredients. And those ingredients were combined, sometimes by a process of trial and error, and sometimes according to a recipe.

And sometimes we get a taste of something amazing, and we think, “I have no idea how she made this, I could never make this.” and we forget that she began with a bunch of raw ingredients and a process.

Most of the time, the raw ingredients are available to us too, and most of the time the process is available to us too, and if we’re prepared to spend the time then we too can turn raw ingredients into art, into innovations, into things that make the world better.

Creativity, art, innovation – these are not the preserves of a few, these are available to anyone who chooses the process.

The flip side:

Since so many of the things you get a taste of are already fully baked, you might be tempted to only share your things with people when you’re satisfied that your product / art / innovation is fully baked. That’s almost always going to be an error.

The stellar chef is tasting as she goes. Trying, tasting, getting feedback.

Sharing early and often will help you find the recipe that works.

The recipe that works is the recipe that spreads, that’s what you’re aiming for, and it also explains why the recipes that reach you taste so good. It’s highly unlikely that you’re tasting the first version, but there was a first version. That’s not the version that spread, and that’s why you didn’t get to taste it. But there was a first version.

So try it, bake it, let people taste it. If they love it and it spreads, you have found a good recipe.

If they don’t love it, if it doesn’t spread; and if you care enough; tweak your recipe, bake it again, let people taste it. Repeat.

Repeat until it they love it and it spreads, or until you no longer care enough and you stop.