The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

It's easy to take our modern conveniences for granted. We have grown accustomed to having anything we could possibly want or need at our fingertips and/or on our doorstep at a moments notice. Even something as simple as my favorite chocolate peanut butter chip protein bars from MacroBar can be delivered via Amazon on the same day that they are ordered, like they were this very morning! 

It wasn't so long ago though, that things we totally take for granted now were considered both huge leaps forward in modern convenience and luxury items at the same time. In addition to same day delivery, from a technology standpoint, things like the internet and cell phones leap immediately to mind. On this day though, I'm going back a bit further in time and thinking of a phrase I grew up with that people my daughter's age can't possibly understand and that phrase is, "The greatest thing since sliced bread!" 

The other morning my daughter Emma was creating an art image on one of the PBS Kids games that she plays on her iPad. When she revealed her masterpiece to me for approval and affirmation, I nonchalantly said, "That's the greatest thing I've seen since sliced bread!" 

After a brief pause, Emma looked at me curiously and said, "That doesn't even make any sense Dad." So there I sat, trying to explain the history of bread production over the course of time to a 5-year old and how back in the old days the bread our ancestors bought did not come pre-sliced. The whole incident got me thinking about the origin of this particular phrase, so sure enough, I grabbed my cell phone and went to the internet to Google how and when bakers started selling sliced bread. 

As it turns out, it was the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri that first introduced pre-sliced bread loaves to the American people back in 1928. The bread was sliced on a machine called the Rohwedder Bread Slicer. Invented by Iowa inventor, Otto Rohwedder. Who would have thought that this week's reflection would take us on a tour of the heartlands of America and that a town that to this day has a population of less than 10,000 people would be the home of sliced bread. 

So why am I sharing this seemingly meaningless story with you << Test First Name >>? 

I'm sharing it because as always, there is a story within the story. A good number of clients that I work with in my coaching business come to me with the desire to get better at speaking, writing, creating content and communicating in general. In some cases the desire to create interesting content is just for every day personal interactions and on other cases it is for business purposes. In either case, the first thing I encourage people to believe is that their life is interesting and that their message matters. 

Many people tell me that when they sit down and try to write a speech, a story, a social media post or some marketing copy that they can't think of anything that has happened in their own life that is worth writing about. My response to that belief system is that EVERYTHING that happens in life is a potential story. Look no further than this particular piece of writing about the history of bread as evidence.

As a writer, people sometimes ask me if I'm afraid that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace the need for qualified human writers? I personally do not see that ever being a concern. While AI can create fantastic outlines, organized blog posts and grammatically correct paragraphs, what AI can't do is retell a story about a conversation with my five year old daughter about the meaning of a phrase that goes back in time to the days of my great grandpa Judge Henry William Herbert, who came to the United States from Ireland as an orphan back in 1890 or my great great grandpa Fedor Gaydos, who lived to be 112 years of age back in Kečkovce, Slovakia. In my mind, it's the personal nuances, that creates the power in the written or spoken word! 

Speaking about writing, I recently signed a deal to write the manuscript for a client who wants to publish their own memoirs The six month project is the biggest writing project that I have undertaken to date and I'm super excited to see what becomes of it. 

What's great in your life right now? Is it as great as sliced bread? If so maybe you should write a story about it or at the very least, tell someone you care about why it matters to you. And if you're looking for someone to help you share your stories or listen to your ideas, I'm more than happy to lend a set of eyes or ears. 

Well that's all for this week. Have a fantastic weekend and thanks as always for following along in my life. Peace and blessings,