Those of you who subscribe to my other ezine, Pet Tails (http://www.pet-tails.com), may remember that I said that the best way to train the cat is to let the cat think the whole thing is her idea.
This training tip works for people too. I thought about that concept quite a bit today as I cleaned up after a tasty baking event. Last weekend, we bought some nice organic bananas and hung them on the banana tree to ripen. Unfortunately James failed to eat them early in the week and the once lovely yellow bananas had moved into what we term "banana bread mode." Once they go brown, it’s time to use them in baked goods.
I like banana bread and make it periodically when we end up with a banana "situation" like this one. But I don’t love it. What I DO love is chocolate. So as James was getting ready to leave this morning, he started talking about *chocolate* banana bread. (Okay, THAT got my attention!) So I starting chiming in suggesting chocolate chips and pecans. I had the cookbook out and was busy writing out a revision to the recipe.
And once I got that far, of course you know I had to make it. The loaves came out of the oven just in time for a post-lunch dessert experience. As I snuffled down a "test" slice, I was feeling pretty proud of my myself. Chocolate banana bread with chocolate chips and pecans is just a very fine thing and how cool that I thought of that!
Of course, as I went down that mental road, I realized that the idea was planted in my brain by my o-so-clever husband. Motivating people (or cats) is all about incentive. If you want something to happen, sometimes you have to give someone some incentive. For me, that incentive is chocolate.