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THE EDUCATED RETAILERS' GUIDE Successful people laugh more, appreciate the depth and meaning of what goes on around them and generally have a better time than most of the rest of the world that's waiting around for fun to arrive at its doorstep. law won't make our weaknesses go away, it becomes far easier to understand how they're a natural outgrowth of what we're good at—and easier to work at minimizing their negative impact. It also highlights the importance of having people around us with the skills we lack. 10. It generally takes a lot longer to make great things happen than people think. In Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, Part 1, I wrote that, from startup, it typically takes two years to get a new business to equilibrium. It takes four years or so to be good. At six we could start to go for great and at eight we actually have a shot at greatness if we've worked hard at it and got a few breaks here and there. I suppose that there are specific job functions in which we might become quite skilled far more quickly. Clearly we don't need eight years to learn to make a good espresso. But that said, to truly get to be great in the world of coffee could easily take seven or eight or more years of hard work. It's not easy to stick with some- Find PARTNERS at Sweets & Snacks Booth #1687 and IDDBA Booth #3820 FA M I LY O W N E D S I M P LY D E L I C I O U S Gluten Free Crackers Sweet? W NE M ITE or Savory? ® Gourmet Cookie Crisps PARTNERS, A Tasteful Choice Company 800-632-7477 www.partnerscrackers.com Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 4112 48 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com thing for that long in a world that encourages instant gratification. In his book Ignore Everybody, Hugh MacLeod explains something that rings true. "Being good at anything," he writes, "is like figure skating—the definition of being good at it is being able to make it look easy. But it never is easy. Ever. That's what the stupidly wrong people conveniently forget." 11. Successful people are appreciative; we laugh more and we almost always have more fun. Dismiss me as naive if you want, but what can I say? It's true. It's a natural law of life: People who are successful in sensitive and supportive ways will almost certainly laugh a lot and smile more still. In my pursuit of the positive, the people I want to be around are ones that bring good spirits and a kind smile to almost everything they do. Successful people laugh more, appreciate the depth and meaning of what goes on around them and generally have a better time than most of the rest of the world that's waiting around for fun to arrive at its doorstep. How, then, can ill-tempered, inconsiderate jackasses still, as some seem to do, succeed? By surface-level standards, I suppose it's not that hard. But I view what they do as strip-mining the spirit. They extract resources, wealth, pleasure and power forcibly from those around them, and then egotistically celebrate their "success." Life, as I'm sure you already know, is short, and there are any number of great quotes about why and how we should enjoy it. All of them, it seems, speak to this point: The people who are doing well in the world are those who find the fun, who seek the sun rather than descend into the dark and the dim. |SFM| Ari Weinzweig is co-owner of Zingerman's Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Mich., and author of Zingerman's Guide to Giving Great Service and other books. For more information, visit zingtrain.com.