Back in the 80s I read a book that made quite an impression on me. It has now been adapted into a movie which I watched for the first time a couple of nights ago and, although I believe that a good book can never be matched by the film, this particular one was exceptionally good: “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”. The book is by German writer Patrick Suskind.

Because this is a book (and a movie) I like to recommend, I am not going to spoil it by writing here about the plot. I just want to focus on one part of the story which I like very much.

In the beginning of the story, the hero – a young boy called Jean-Baptiste – approaches a Perfumer to work with him making perfumes (what else?!). The Perfumer is a true alchemist, a perfectionist of the profession. He measures every essence with precision before mixing it and the way he approaches perfume-making is closer to art than to trade. Jean-Baptiste is incredibly gifted and can produce the most amazing perfumes by simply throwing all the scents together in a flask, without measuring anything at all and without even knowing the names of any of the ingredients he uses.

The Perfumer is an academic. Jean-Baptiste is street-smart — the type of guy who follows his instincts and his nose (literally!) to accomplish much better things than the Master. The Master even ends up asking Jean-Baptiste for his recipes!

And what I like about this part of the story is that it reminds us that whatever we do in our lives — from work to relationships to hobbies to everything else — theory might make things work, but what we can add to it from our own character and experience is what makes the real difference between achieving ordinary and an extraordinary results.
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