Living With SAUCE!

"The Sauce." This is what I call it. But the idea of it has always existed...

And perhaps the best explication for it was penned over two millenia ago, from a man far wiser than I. Known as "Laozi" (literally "the old master"), the identity of this anonymous sage remains clouded in mystery. Even so, his work, the Dao De Jing, continues to be the most beloved export of Chinese thought, having been translated into forty versions in English alone. I will therefore lean on him heavily for this little Sauce-themed essay.

So what is this Sauce? And what is its usefulness for successful (saucy) living?

Closely related to Luke Skywalker's Force, Austin Power's Mojo, Rhonda Byrne's Secret or Laozi's Dao--the Sauce is a source, the soil from which all else grows. Till and cultivate the Sauce, and allow fields to spring from it. Succeeding with the Sauce means succeeding effortlessly.



Success with Sauce means not aiming directly for the reward. There is no victory in sport without practice. There is no practice without the love of the game. The love of the game, therefore, is what brings victory. In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, he talks of excellence in anything as taking 10,000 hours of practice. Anyone who's endured music lessons against their will knows that the far-off specter of concert pianist-dom is not enough to carry you through 10,000 grueling and repetitive sessions with a dictatorial tutor. Having the Sauce means loving the 10,000 hours you spend on your passion, without thought of ambition—and then reaping success anyway. You can't fake it, either. A hack simply won't last those 10,000 hours.

Therefore the sage accomplishes things by doing nothing.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 2:11)

Friendship with Sauce means investing in your companions—as an investment in yourself. Friendship as competition is a race to the bottom. Friendship without cooperation is a wretched scramble over the scraps of life. Your friends and family are your assets, and the more you consider them and treat them that way, the more valuable assets they become.

The sage does not hoard,
The more he uses on behalf of others,
The more he has himself.
And the more he gives to others,
The more comes back to him.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 81:7-11)

Loving with Sauce means not aiming to get the girl/boy. The object of your desire is best seduced, rather than pursued. And what is the most attractive quality in another person? Passion—someone who's doing something. True love is two sets of eyes on the same star.

In being acted upon, it is harmed;
And in being grasped, it is lost.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 29:5-6)

Leading with Sauce means a soft touch. It means standing aside and allowing the potential energies of your team to become kinetic. It means applying just as much force as is needed—no more, no less. The leader neither neglects, nor burdens his team.

This man of wisdom
Concerns himself with under-acting
And applies the lesson
Of the word unspoken,
That all the ten thousand things may come forth
Without his direction,
Live through their lives
Without his possession,
And act of themselves
Unbeholden to him.
To the work he completes
He lays down no claim.
And this has everything to do
With why his claim always holds true.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 2:12-25)

Leadership with Sauce is also humble. It can afford to be, because credit comes readily when it is neither demanded nor yearned for. When the leader gives credit easily, the led loose nothing in praising.

Possess little so as to acquire;
To possess much is to be perplexed.
Therefore the sage, by embracing the One,
Becomes a model for the world.
By not showing himself,
He becomes illustrious.
By not being self-important,
He becomes prominent.
By not being given to self-praise,
He is given credit.
By not promoting himself,
He endures for long.
If one wants to be ahead of the people,
One must, in using one's person, remain behind them.
Therefore the world finds joy in praising him, without wearying of it.
And because he contends with no one,
There is no one in the world who can contend with him.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 22:5-13; 66:12-15)

Entrepreneurship with Sauce means allowing oneself to be empty. What substance does the entrepreneur add? Nothing! The entrepreneur merely provides the crux where things meet. The entrepreneur invites things together, so that they are rendered greater than the sum of their parts. He is the host, not the party. The entrepreneur finds that everything that is needed already exists. He merely provides a setting for them to fill.

Thirty spokes conjoin in one hub,
there being nothing in between,
the cart is useful.
Clay is molded to form a vessel;
there being nothing inside,
the vessel is useful.
Doors and windows are carved out to make a room:
there being nothing within,
the room is useful.
Thus, with something one gets advantage,
While in nothing one gets usefulness.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 11:1-11)

Society with Sauce means nurturing a community. Before a community exists, its members have existed. The social entrepreneur merely unites and nurtures them. He does not interfere. He is the catalyst, but allows the reaction to occur as it will.

Give life to things, rear them,
Give them life but without possessing them,
Perform without obligating,
Preside without controlling:
Such is the meaning of "hidden power."

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 10:13-17)

Vision with Sauce means standing back to see what's in front of you. The finest artist merely recreates what is there. Preconceived notions stymie creativity, blind you to new opportunities and prevent vital retooling of ideas once implemented. Having vision means listening to different perspectives from different people.

For your vision to reach all quarters
Must you not be unknowing?

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 10:11-12)

Sustainability with Sauce means prioritizing endurance over power. A bicep trained only in anaerobic exercise with have greater strength, but will exhaust itself completely within minutes. The marathon runner's sinewy musculature, on the other hand, can hold enough metabolic fuel for over 20 miles. The 1990s witnessed countless flash-in-the-pan dot-coms—initially impressive, but ephemeral. Those that survived found that persistence was far more important than intelligence. The social ills of our time are deep and profound, and cannot be cured by band-aid solutions. Thomas Edison's cliche "Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration” still holds.

Hence the strong and true keep commitment,
Stay with the kernel that's real,
And shun flowery adornment.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 38:28-31)

How can it be that the Sauce is the secret to happiness, friendship, love, success, innovation, sustainability and societal betterment? The Sauce is itself the inexhaustible source of all positive outcomes. Positivity breeds positivity. Trust breeds trust. Love breeds love. Success breeds success. There is no limit to the iterative power of this dynamic, once it is set into motion. You can Pay it Forward forever...

Aim for the common Means—not the End—and you too with be Living with Sauce.

The Dao is empty.
It may be used without every being exhausted.
Fathomless, it seems to be the ancestor of all things.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 10:1-11)