We often get fixated on the result, on trying to reach the goal, so much that we forget there are things to learn, enjoy, and even achieve along the way. Of course, if you’ve got a job to do, it’s usually best to get it done, but why not see what else is available on the route?

When I read this piece Sarah wrote for her Scenthusiasm community on Patreon, it made me think about how important it is to take everything you can from the things you do. This isn’t a new idea for Sarah. She’s always collecting ‘draft’ formulas with the plan to return to them when she has time (as if!).

For me, this probably translates most into research. Much of my work involves understanding topics more deeply, reading what people with expertise or lived experience have to say, and pulling together a fuller view. To do that, you need to look at plenty of sources. Along the way, I’ve ended up knowing more (which I like), and I’ve also discovered new interests I didn’t expect.

That gives me more things I enjoy writing about, and more things to enjoy in general.

Taking positives from the journey is something everyone can do, whether you’re working towards professional goals or personal ones.

Here’s how Sarah’s client work helped feed another side of her business and her perfumery community:

I've been delving deeply into my formula books, looking at fragrances I made for clients but which weren't chosen at the time. Usually I take at least three approaches of an idea, then we follow the direction which they like best. Sometimes I prefer the others, but they languish on a page and in one trial bottle at the back of a cupboard, until I have time to review them.

In 2014 I made a fragrance called Redchurch for Handsome London, a brand started by two young men who were on a quest to bring their creative ideas to life. Unfortunately they spent such a high share of their resources designing the perfect box - it was absolutely gorgeous - that they ran out of money to develop their other products and decided that it was all too much and after launching ten years ago, they closed the company.

Redchurch Street in Shoreditch had all the cool hot new indie shops, bars and restaurants at the time, and it's still cool, but rather overtaken by chains that pass for indie, if you don't know who owns them. I met them there to smell everything, from the original Dishoom Indian restaurant, to the geraniums in the window boxes, perfect apples and tomatoes in baskets outside the organic fruit and veg shop, people drinking their espressos and smoking rollies al fresco.

I took my favourite elements from the original approaches, and turned them into Sunday In Shoreditch, a fragrance for my Patreon community to explore and play with.

It's not the same as Redchurch, but it's along the same lines. I would describe it as quite clean, clear and airy; I wanted the feel of being outside and the breeze blowing along the straight, narrow street, and down from the churchyard to the north. (If you watched Rev, you'll know the actual church.)

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If you’d like to be part of Sarah’s Scenthusiasm community on Patreon, where she regularly shares posts like this, you can join us here.