Are You Salt or Sodium?
After thinking some more on this post and comment, I began to think, as anyone would, how this would apply to business (which could include the business of blogging).
Are you salt, or are you sodium?
When we talk about sodium, most people think of sodium chloride, NaCl, table salt. (Of course, salt isn’t the only kind of salt either, but for the purposes of this post, when I mention “salt,” I mean sodium chloride, the salt we eat.)
Too little salt is bad. Too much salt is bad. Your body needs just the right amount.
We use salt to flavor our foods. Too little may result in a bland dish and too much can ruin the dish.
A similar thing happens with water and salt. When you add salt to water, the salt will dissolve. You’ll only know the salt is there if you taste the water.
If you keep adding salt, eventually it will reach the point where the water is saturated. At that point, it cannot hold anymore salt, and you will begin to see the salt crystals accumulate at the bottom of the glass.
A niche in the business world is like that glass of water. Sooner or later, it will reach the point where it cannot make room for any more business. In order for someone else to break in, someone else must be knocked out. The market is considered saturated.
People will advise you to stay out of those saturated markets. It’s tough in there. You probably won’t be able to mix in. You’ll end up at the bottom of the glass with the rest of the people that couldn’t fit in.
That is, of course, if you’re salt.
If you are sodium, it doesn’t matter how saturated the market is. Toss sodium (don’t try this at home!!!) in that glass of water, and, kaboom!, the market will gravitate to you!
See, despite the fact that the water is saturated with salt, it is still dihydrogen monoxide. It hasn’t changed its molecular structure due to the interaction with the salt, sodium chloride. The salt is still salt and the water is still water.
But, throw in the sodium, and the hydrogen and the oxygen of the water want to be with the sodium! They want to be with the sodium so badly, they will crack apart, and one poor hydrogen atom is going to be tossed by the wayside in the split! Doesn’t matter that the water is saturated, the attraction to that sodium is powerful! It can be explosive and dangerous!
If you are sodium, you can shake up and explode into any market you want! But, you have to have that kind of raw potential. You have to have that explosive personality. You have to have that energy just waiting inside of you.
And you have to be willing to jump into that glass of water and be prepared for the explosion!
So, are you salt? Or, are you sodium?
Sometimes, I think I’m docile, like baking soda. No, I do try to be sodium. Your post brought back memories of high-school chem! thanks!
I remember the bit about not mixing sodium and water in part because my high school chemistry teacher told us how students once snuck out some sodium and took it to a local pond to see what would happen… and then told us never to do that.
Great post! But just the disclaimer alone is enough to make me want to try
I’d have to say that most days I’m sodium. I like to jump on in and shake things up. It’s not always a good thing, though. Sometimes all you really need is a little salt - so I’m learning to be an enhancer as much as an explosion.
Yes, you do have to be careful with disclaimers.
I had a chemistry kit as a kid, and one of the chemicals said “Do not mix with acid.” Naturally, the first thing you do is mix it with acid and see what happens. And then, since the results were disappointing, you heat it up with the bunsen burner. And that results in a loud noise, a broken test tube and a stain on the wall that lasted a couple decades.
Fortunately, I used a weak acid. The reason you shouldn’t mix it with acid is because doing so can create a deadly, poisonous gas. Mind you, if that had been on the warning, I wouldn’t have mixed it with any acid, weak or strong!!!
Thanks for stopping by!
dcr,
WOW! What a post! Inspiring…motivating! It certainly gets one thinking about the endless possibilities there are in life for those who believe in themselves and their abilities and are willing to jump right in and go after what they want!
Thanks for the reminder!
Jeanne
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by! I visited your blog earlier today, and it looks great. I’ll have to spend some more time there to go through all that you have, and maybe pick some posts to point out to my readers.
[...] a previous post, I asked if you were salt or sodium. Today, I will explain why you might want to be water. A contradiction? No, not at all. You can be [...]
Are you salt or sodium?:) What type are you?
I am Dr Shoal, the anti Pepper!
… and eat only potassium chloride, and brush with flouride, and clean with bromidephenelthalien.
Notice the lil alien at the end? That’s YOU
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