When I think of the word sticky, I think of my favorite organization tool: a small yellow sticky note. While these small pads of paper function primarily in a pragmatic manner, they also hold an inspirational message for me.
How so? It all goes back to how sticky notes were accidentally invented. Spencer Silver, an employee researcher at 3M, intended to create a strong adhesive, but it flopped. What he created instead was a weak adhesive that could easily be removed without residue. It seemed like a failed experiment! And yet, a few years later Spencer’s friend, Art Fry, had a brainstorm to use this not-so-sticky glue to hold down a bookmark, and it did its thing. Eventually, the post-it note was born.
Sometimes, we experience what we perceive as a failure. The outcome in life is not what we intended or dreamed of. But each failure can be repurposed creatively, and channeled into a better future for ourselves and for others.
G-d makes no mistakes. Our job is to utilize the talents He gave us to the best of our ability, and when something doesn’t go our way, our job is to ask, “What lesson can I learn for the future? How can my experience be used to help others?”
And we can jot our answers on sticky notes.
