There we were in the 1980s eating our spaghetti (well, those of us who were alive in the 80s and those of us who were eating spaghetti, that is.) Convenience was on the shelves and even though we wonderful consumers were buying it by the truckloads, Prego, an undisputed leader in the Spaghetti Sauce Empire, decided to call on a guy named Moskowitz—Howard Moskowitz to be specific.
Moskowitz was a marketing researcher and psychophysicist (never heard of a psychophysicist before today but it turns out it’s kind of a cool thing—it’s a person who “investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce.” At least that’s Wikipedia take on it.)
Back to the story…
Moskowitz was commissioned for a discovery mission of sorts. What kind of spaghetti sauce do we like? Research gathered. Data analyzed. And the results were in. We fell into 3 categories—well those of us who were alive in the 80s and those of us who were eating spaghetti sauce 😉 . It turns out:
- some of us like it spicy;
- some of us like it plain;
- and some of us like it extra chunky.
The big surprise was “extra chunky”. Extra chunky? No one was delivering extra chunky.
“Extra chunky?”
We know a lot about what we like and what we don’t like. But there’s a catch. Sometimes, we don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes we’re lulled by daily living and to do lists and various other sundry “life happenings” of one sort or another. We get a little muted. We get a little acclimatized to where we are. We don’t realize that we want Extra Chunky. We don’t see it on the shelves. We’re not making it because we’re buying it now. And slowly but surely, over time, we forget about extra chunky altogether.
Until one day, Moskowitz asks us if we’d like to try a few spaghetti sauces. And lo behold, we fall in the Extra Chunky category.
I’ll bet there’s an Extra Chunky something or other in your life. Something that you’re coming pretty close to forgetting all about. My invitation to you today is to mine back into your life, into your adolescence and your childhood.
- Are there some extra chunky things that have falling by the wayside?
- Is it possible that some of those Extra Chunky things are favorites?
- Could it be that those Extra Chunkys are keys to your inherent happiness?
My Extra Chunky in the last few months has been the guitar. Oh, it’s been with me since I was kid. I’d piddle around. Write songs. Sing. Teach myself a few new chords here and there. A few months ago, on a whim, I said yes to the idea of guitar lessons. Who knew what that was going to unleash? It’s been like going through the back of the Narnia closet. Into another galaxy–quite a lovely galaxy!
What’s your Extra Chunky? What’s gotten left behind? What’s calling you? Nudging you? Even if it’s just on the edge of your perception. It just might be something you didn’t even know you wanted. And those are the kinds of things that really light life up when you say yes. Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you.
