How Do I Get 1% Better Today?
The Answer: Be a Coffee Bean.
Every morning when you wake up, you have a choice about how you will approach the day. Life will bring challenges, pressure, and adversity. The real question is not whether those things will come—but who you will choose to be when they do.
Damon West, author of The Coffee Bean, gives us a powerful picture of this choice.
Imagine life as a pot of boiling water. The heat represents pressure, stress, setbacks, and difficult situations. Into that pot we place three things: a carrot, an egg, and a coffee bean.
The Carrot
The carrot goes into the boiling water strong and firm. But after a while in the heat, it becomes soft.
Some people respond to adversity this way. They start strong, but pressure makes them discouraged, defeated, and easy to push around.
The Egg
The egg starts fragile on the inside. But after sitting in the boiling water, it becomes hard.
Some people respond to challenges by becoming bitter, angry, and hardened toward others.
The Coffee Bean
Then there is the coffee bean. The coffee bean doesn’t become weak like the carrot, and it doesn’t become hard like the egg.
The coffee bean changes the water.
It transforms the environment around it. Instead of letting the heat change it, the coffee bean changes the boiling water into coffee.
That’s the lesson.
Every day you walk into environments—your workplace, your home, your team, your community. Some of those environments may feel like boiling water. Stress. Conflict. Pressure. Uncertainty.
But you always have a choice.
You can become soft like the carrot.
You can become hard like the egg.
Or you can choose to be the coffee bean—the person who makes the environment better.
You do that through your attitude, your words, your effort, and your example.
Remember this:
You can choose to be mad, sad, or glad—but you can’t be all three at the same time.
So today, choose wisely.
Choose to bring energy. Choose to bring belief. Choose to lift people up.
Let your mindset and example influence the room.
Be the coffee bean.
— John Perry
Source: Damon West, The OG Coffee Bean