Gorick
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Keep your goals alive

Last Updated:

November 25, 2025

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TODAY’S TAKEAWAY

Keep your dream alive.

You never know when the time will come for it to be revived.

THE STORY

The ice cream 23 years in the making

It was 1996. Jeni Britton Bauer, a 22 year old college student in Columbus, OH, just quit school to open an ice cream shop called Scream Ice Cream.

Bauer’s ice cream obsession started when she was experimenting with perfumes one day.

Bauer in the 90s

She “mashed cayenne essential oil into chocolate ice cream” and realized: it “was the best thing” she’d ever had.

So, she set off to “perfect the art of ice cream making.”

But, after 4 years of sluggish sales, Bauer closed up shop.

Though it felt like she was “walking away from ice cream” forever, something in her wouldn’t let the dream die outright.

So, over the next 2 years, Bauer…

  • Enrolled in Penn State’s famed ice cream course to hone her skills
  • Worked as a librarian and nanny to recoup some of her funds
  • Applied for (and got) a $40,000 loan to open a new ice cream shop

Fast forward to 2025—23 years since her decision to close shop—and Bauer reopened as “Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams” and now has her ice cream in thousands of retailers across the United States, from CVS to Whole Foods.

Jeni’s Ice Cream

THE UNSPOKEN RULE

Keep your dream alive.

Bauer’s story helped me realize: there’s a difference between quitting and pausing.

How do you decide whether to quit or pause?

Ask yourself 3 questions:

  1. “Do I enjoy this (anymore)?”
  2. “Is this something I’d ever want to return to?”
  3. “Do I think I’ll ever reach my personal definition of success or satisfaction doing this?”

If your answer is “no” to all 3 questions, then maybe quitting is the way to go. After all, whatever you were doing is no longer worth your time.

But if your answer isn’t necessarily an emphatic “no” to all 3 questions but is instead…

  1. “I think I’ve reached a lull.”
  2. “I could see myself coming back to this at some point in the future.”
  3. “I think I have a decent chance of succeeding if I put my mind to it.”

…then maybe the answer isn’t to quit, but to pause—and to let that brilliant idea or goal of yours marinate further.

Bauer, present day, with 3 pints of “Jeni’s Ice Cream”

Who knows: maybe I’ll stumble upon your story like I did Bauer’s and write about it!

See you next Tuesday for our next story and unspoken rule,

Gorick

WHAT I’M READING

Here are 3 articles that I found interesting recently (no paywalls, although it may depend on your cookies):

  • “A seismic shift in computing is on the horizon (and it’s not AI)” (CNN)
  • “College admissions: How the game is shifting” (OPB)
  • “The “‘Boring Job’ Trend Is Bringing More Financial Security (and Happiness) to Gen-Zers” (The Everygirl)

MORE OF MY WORK

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1. Keynote speaking​​: If your organization is looking for speakers for your internship program, new hire orientation, new student orientation, manager training, all-hands meetings, recruiting season, year-end performance evaluation season, or something else, let's chat!

2. How to Say It: Flashcards that teach you to know what to say in every high-stakes professional setting via hundreds of fill-in-the-blank scripts (just like the examples above). Free shipping on all orders over $40.

3. The Unspoken Rules​: My Wall Street Journal Bestseller that Arianna Huffington calls “a blueprint for anyone starting their career, entering a new role, or wanting to get unstuck.” Used by top companies and MBA programs.

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