A barista in one of my favourite on-site coffee shops at work was overheard updating a colleague on the status of their coffee machines that morning. It seemed that two were being a bit problematic, with only one fully functioning.

When I went to order my second coffee, I asked the barista if he’d fixed the problems. He shared that he hadn’t, but that on such a hot day as it was, the difficulties were indicative of the weather and the constant need by him as an experienced operative to be “constantly chasing the grind” just to get it right and deliver that perfect cup of coffee time after time.

Constantly chasing the grind.

I did like that phrase. And it’s stayed with me as a bit of a metaphor. You know, for those days when it would be really easy to give up, but something inside tells you that to do so would be defeatist and not really who you are.

Constantly chasing the grind … a whole new light on . . . if at first you don’t succeed …?