Book 309 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: Study the Source Material, Not the Competition!

Book – The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr

Book Description:

The miracle of the supermarket has never been more apparent. Like the doctors and nurses who care for the sick, suddenly the men and women who stock our shelves and operate our warehouses are understood as 'essential' workers, providing a quality of life we all too easily take for granted. But the sad truth is that the grocery industry has been failing these workers for decades. In this page-turning expose, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on the highly secretive grocery industry. Combining deep sourcing, immersive reporting, and sharp, often laugh-out-loud prose, Lorr leads a wild investigation, asking what does it take to run a supermarket? How does our food get on the shelves? And who suffers for our increasing demands for convenience and efficiency?

Reflection:

The Secret Life of Groceries was fantastic and truly a hidden gem that Amazon helped me to stumble upon with their long tail perfecting algorithms. So much learning and great story telling to be found in this awesome expose by Benjamin Lorr. For the rest of my life, I can safely say that my paradigm of the grocery experience will never be the same after reading this book.

The section of the book that I loved the absolute most was the origin story of Trader Joe’s and how it came to be. Joe Coulombe, the Joe in the name Trader Joe’s, is a fascinating character and the sole visionary that gave birth to this unique Grocery Store experience and helped to build it into a place that his customer’s loved. When asked by the author how the idea of Trader Joe’s came to be, his answer was brilliant. Joe said, “Most people are busy studying the competition to inform their next move, I was studying the source material to guide my vision”.

Joe intentionally took the time to study, to break everything down to its foundational building blocks, to ask the necessary questions, and to think, think, and think some more. He dissected the grocery busy to its first principles and underlying source DNA. It was then, and only then, did he begin to set his course of action going forward that would one day turn into the unique expression of his vision that we know today as Trader Joe’s.

While most people are busy fighting it out in the Red Ocean’s filled with bloody competition, Joe was busy looking to crystal clear Blue Ocean’s to set sail on his own unique path that would be guided by the fundamental values and building blocks he discovered in his initial research.

As I look back on this Year of Magical Learning journey and where we are at today, I can’t help but to feel an uncommon commonality with Joe and his founding philosophies for what would become Trader Joe’s. Prior to YOML, the majority of my time on this Earth has been spent trying to outcompete others in the game of life. I had an “It is what it is” mindset and figured that the only way to live a happy existence was to outcompete those around me for those finite “happiness resources”. Not surprisingly, that methodology had gotten me nowhere fast. Not only had it not gotten me anywhere, but it was also neither fun nor fulfilling.

Then, as you all know by now, everything changed the day I met my daughter and the subsequent series of events that led to her passing after only 39 days in this world. As I was staring at a new existence without her physically here with me, I had to decide on which path I would pursue for the rest of my days. Instead of just jumping right back into that red bloody ocean of my previous life, I decided to stop and spend some time in thought.

With the power and guiding spirit of my daughter always by my side, we started asking questions about life, happiness, values, and purpose. We studied, we learned, we asked more questions, which led to more questions and required more research, learning, and reflection.

We looked at the source code for living a happy life, what it means to be a human, and how the universe operates. Eventually, all of that led us to values, meaning, and purpose.

From there, Emilia and I began to build our vision for a future where we could still live a life together for the rest of our days. That vision turned out to be the Year of Magical Learning that you are reading today, and that Emilia and I will happily be on together for the rest of our time in this universe as we live for 2 in all that we do.

If feel like happiness is seen as a zero-sum game in this modern world. If I’m happy and fulfilled, than that means that someone else is not. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Everyone has the ability to live a happy, fulfilled, and purpose driven life if they so desire. The key is to stop listening to everyone else’s definition of happiness and start studying your own and I guarantee you will find the answers you seek.

Don’t ever stop searching.

Question: Are you taking the time to study your own life and understand what makes you happy?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore -The Secret Life of Groceries