Success From Anywhere

“People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are always the ones who do.”

—Walter Isaacson, author of Jobs, the Steve Jobs biography

“It's not enough to be busy…. The question is: what are we busy about?”

—Henry David Thoreau

My college roommate, Kate, was very clever. I could always count on her to come up with new ideas. One night, I arrived at our apartment and found all of my glass cooking bowls upside down on the living room carpet.

Six clear bowls were placed around the room, in between chairs and underneath tables. Was this some kind of craft project? A science experiment? What was wrong with our kitchen cabinets, I wondered? Why would the bowls be upside down on the floor – kinda hard to put cereal in a bowl that's upside down! Kate's door was shut, and it was late. No opportunity to ask her what was behind this new furniture arrangement. Or was this the start of our next dinner party?

I kneeled down to look at one of the glass bowls. Underneath the bowl, bouncing around inside the glass, was a little brown bug. Under a larger bowl nearby, there was an actual grasshopper. Sitting there. Looking at me. From under the bowl.

Each bowl contained a tiny six-legged hostage, trapped in our apartment because we left the windows open. The grasshopper was a refugee from the nearby forest preserve. I grabbed a handy paper plate and slid it underneath the ...