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I discovered early in life that I was good with words.

        (“Dad, what’s a ‘auntie Q’?”

        “A what?”

        “That word over there, on that sign.”

        “Ooohhh, ‘antique’! Ha ha! Well, when we

        get home, ask your mom if she’s an auntie Q!”)

Here’s a memorable “success story” (as they’re called in What Color Is Your Parachute?*).

In high school, I once procrastinated to the last day on an assignment to research, write, and present a short biographical report of a famous mathematician. On the day of the oral presentations, I hadn’t even chosen a mathematician. Sitting in the high school library, head swiveling and looking around in desperation, I happened to see a photo of an old-world-looking classical pianist on a magazine cover. . . .

An hour later, I was standing before the class and relating the life of “the famous nineteenth-century Hungarian mathematician, Vladimir Horowitz,” all the while sneaking furtive glances at the teacher, who was sitting impassively in the back row. I wondered how soon, and how badly, he would interrupt and humiliate me by revealing to the entire class what I was doing.

But the teacher said nothing. I pulled it off.

Apparently, it turned out to be a life-shaping experience. (Have you seen Steven Spielberg’s film Catch Me If You Can? Remember how Frank Abignale, Jr., first discovered he was good with words?)

1. *Some readers of this blog may not know of my other life. For nine years after I founded the nonprofit Life’s Work Center in San Francisco in 2000, I strove to help people find more than just a job. We used Parachute as the “101-level” textbook for the deep-inquiry and information-interview parts of manifesting a life’s work. Success stories are written in brief form and then opened up, in an always remarkable process, by two listeners, who help the storyteller identify talents and passions therein.
   

(photo: http://www.mariadewi.com/wordpress/?p=698)