Last week, some models taught me the secret ingredient for success.

I also learned this from Kung Foo Panda. Squidoosh.

Surfing and Furniture

I was out and about with a good friend of mine who has worked for Ford for over a decade, and she is even more beautiful on the inside than the outside.

I meet the most unexpected people through her, and sometimes the stories I hear are deliciously perfect for you.

Enter J.T.

He is accompanied by a crew of veritable misfits, and he happens to sit down next to me. I ask J.T., “What do you do here in NYC?” His answer goes something like this…

A long time ago, J.T. was living a glamourous life: modeling, acting and traveling.

But, he had grown restless. He was ready for work that felt more meaningful to him. He wanted to contribute something to the world. But, what??  He didn’t know. Restlessness!

Meanwhile, J.T. frequently made surfing trips to Costa Rica. He had befriended the locals at a particular beach, and on one trip, a local surfer brought J.T. to his home to see the furniture he made. Next to some very ordinary-looking furniture was the most beautiful wood J.T. had ever seen.

J.T. made a poorly thought through decision that changed his life, a decision that he attributes to being extremely high from smoking marijuana in Costa Rica for days.

He committed to purchasing a forrest full of this wood with his entire life’s savings.

He says it was not so much that he chose to buy the wood. It was more like the wood had chosen him.

(That may sound drug-induced to you, but I actually know exactly the feeling that he is talking about. It’s that moment when you just know you’re going to do something, no matter the ramifications. It’s almost like you are not in control…)

Over the next THREE YEARS:

• He greased palms in Costa Rica to export the wood.
• He greased palms in the U.S. to import the wood.
• He found a warehouse in Jersey in which to put the wood.

He quit the venture countless times. But, each time he gave up, he found he couldn’t quit, that something about the wood was irresistible to him.

Knowing nothing about furniture design, and also having zero plan about what he was going to do with this stuff, he just did the simplest thing possible…

He cut one of the gorgeous trees in half.  With one half, he made one table. With the other half, he made another table.

A friend of a friend said, “Hey, that’s a cool table, how much does that table cost?”

J.T. says, “Um, $12,000?”

Friend of friend, “I’ll take it.” And the prices have only gone up from there.  Way, way up.

Today, J.T. has a few decades of furniture design experience. He knows wood. He knows steel. His reputation is built on the consistent quality of his work.

But you know what? It all started with one split-second decision, with no planning, when he was very young.

So much like a Disney movie, in so many ways.

What I love most about that story is the same thing that I love about  the movie, Kung Fu Panda, which goes something like this:

A chubby, cartoon panda bear is obsessed with Kung Fu in a land oddly full of cartoon ducks.

One of these cartoon ducks is Kung Fu Panda’s father — obviously, there are some issues to work out outside of the screen.

Dad makes secret ingredient noodles and expects Kung Fu Panda to follow the “family” tradition. Noodles? No fun!

Meanwhile, Kung Foo Panda has (seemingly) mistakenly been selected as the “chosen one” by an old Kung Fu master. Kung Fu Panda is massively out of shape and in no way prepared, but he inherits the special scroll of the “chosen one” which is said to prepare him to fight Very Scary Leopard coming to destroy the city for some unclear reason.

Kung Foo Panda opens the scroll. The scroll is blank — except for its reflective surface.

When Kung Foo Panda looks into the scroll, he sees nothing but himself.

Ahhhhhh.

There IS no secret ingredient.

Kung Foo Panda’s ducky dad then reveals the secret ingredient to the noodles… which is, there isn’t a secret ingredient.

The noodles are the same in each dish, but the secret ingredient dish tastes better to people because people believe it’s special.

The belief that it is special is just as powerful as being special.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Kung Fu Panda defeats the Very Scary Leopard.

Now we see why Kung Foo Panda is like J.T.!

No? That’s fine, you’re smart, but it’s also Monday.

There are loads of little gems to unpack, I’ll spell out a few:

1. No situation is definitively bad or definitively good. Work with what you’ve got.
2. You are capable of absolutely anything. Anything.
3. Your decisions are not as important as making a decision.

I’m not saying you should make random, ill-thought out decisions. In fact, don’t do that (at least, not on purpose).

I’m merely asking you to open yourself up to the possibility that wherever you are (feeling out of place, or lost, or adrift at sea) what has seemed like a big mistake may be the best decision of your entire life…

…like, purchasing a forrest full of wood, or, having no Kung Fu training but being picked as the “chosen one”.

Because, on the one hand, there is no magic bullet for happiness, and there is no secret ingredient for success. There are no perfect circumstances or magic tricks or sneaky techniques that guarantee triumph.

But, on the other hand (which is really the same idea put another way) there is a secret ingredient to your success.

The secret part is that you already have it.

You already have it part is that it’s YOU.

And the real #1 lesson you and I learned today:

1. You are the secret to your success.

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