Science Experiment
A few weeks ago, my daughters asked me if they could make “slime”. The best way I can describe it is that it is some sort of putty. I agreed, and the next thing we did was to look for a recipe. They found a recipe online, and we visited Michael’s to obtain the ingredients.
(When you want to embark on a project, sit down, think, and count the cost. Do not just run out without as much information as you can get. You need the “right ingredients”).
Ingredients in hand, we were ready to make slime. Our first batch failed. We tweaked the recipe a little bit, and it failed again. We made a large batch, it failed. We made a small batch, it failed. You know how they say, if at first you don’t succeed try, try again? Well, after we made about five batches tweaking the recipe for slime this way and that, we realized that there was something wrong.
(Sometimes when we try repeatedly to do something and we don’t get it right, we may have to admit that our method may not be the right approach. I say this to my daughters, and my clients: “If what you are doing is not working try something else”).
So, instead of repeating what we already did five times, expecting a different result, we did something else. I asked my daughters to look for other recipes for slime. I went to the Michael’s website (Michaels is a hobby/crafts store). I found a recipe which was rather complicated. I printed it out with plans to visit the store and get all the ingredients in this recipe. We postponed our slime-making experiment for another day.
(Taking a break if you are in over your head, can be wise. If you falter, you may need time to “regroup”).
The next day, my children told our nanny about the failed slime experiment. Our nanny said: “I made slime with some other kids a few weekends ago. Your recipe was missing one ingredient”. She told us that we were missing shaving cream. At this point, we were at a crossroads. Should we go with the craft store recipe? Or should we go with our nanny’s actual tried and true recipe? She even showed us pictures to prove it.
(Over the years, I have realized that it is better to trust one person’s tried and true proven story, than 1000 stories that you read on the Internet. Word-of-mouth from a known person is still more trustworthy than other media).
So, to cut a long story short we went with our nanny’s recipe and… SUCCESS! We made “slime”. By the way, it is not as disgusting as it sounds.
http://www.vencolibrary.org/news/steam-challenge-8-diy-slime
So, to recap:
- It is good to step out of your comfort zone and try new things.
- Count the cost of your dream, goal, or project.
- If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
- If you still continue not to succeed, change your method or approach.
- If you want something different, you have to do something different.
- Go back to the drawing board and do more research.
- Get help from a trusted person, Mentor, or coach.
- Don’t give up.
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