I’ve been smoking meats for about 23 years. In 1999 I was lucky enough to take a 15 hour class with Paul Kirk, The Kansas City Baron of BBQ. It’s where I first learned to make my own BBQ sauces and rubs. He was great. I still use his cookbook today. It’s splattered with sauce and smeared with the rubs I’ve made.
News Flash- I’ve been accused of being a messy cook.
In the BBQ world, people disagree over what’s the best smoker, the perfect rub or the ideal wood to use when smoking a pork shoulder or a brisket. There is one thing they don’t disagree on – Low and Slow.
Most of the meats that are being smoked are tough cuts. You can’t just put them on a grill for a couple of hours and they’re done. They will never be right. It’s the low temperature over a long period of time that transforms a tough brisket to a mouth-watering experience.
That’s how I feel about life and, frankly, the purpose of my posts and everything that I do related to Tipping the Scales. I’ve made lots of great life changes that lasted 48 hours. After enough ideas and plans not sticking, I decided it was time to go low and slow.
Part of the experience of this amazing life that we are given for preciously to little time, comes from being a stone skipping over the water of life. But part of it also comes from going deep. Exploring what we can’t see as we sit at the water’s edge or float on the surface.
All these approaches play a critical role in our transformation, just like a brisket. We take our rub and sauce. We use our favorite wood. And we take it low and slow. Our life does not look like anyone else’s, because it’s not. We talk to others about how they do it, how they got to where they are, not to give us the answers, but as an inspirational light to shine for one another.
I’m constantly amazed at how many ways there are to solve a legal problem or interpret a statute. Talk to any 5 attorneys about how they solve the same issue or understand a statute, and you often will not hear the same answer twice. For most of us one of the solutions or interpretations resonates in particular, so that’s the way we go.
The only thing more important than our answer to a question, are the questions we are asking ourselves. The questions we ask ourselves drive our answers.
I hope to ask questions that provoke your answers. And lucky you, you get to hear about my stumbling along the way. The rubs that were too salty, the sauce that didn’t taste quite right or the tough brisket. Hopefully you like it and will pass it to the person next to you.
I love being a part of this amazing integral movement within the legal profession. It’s a ground swell of lawyers looking to provide greater meaning for one another in a profession that is demanding, adversarial and, at times, overwhelming.
Go swimming, boating or jet skiing, but remember also to go Low and Slow.
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