Let’s face it…food is a common denominator amongst us! We all eat. We all choose what goes on our plates. Not just once in a while, or once a day, but all the time, each and every day. We have our favorites. We sample and try new things or we remain consistent in our assortments. Sometimes we eat more, or too much. Sometimes we eat less, and hold ourselves back. Rich and sweet, bitter or bland…the foods in our lives ignite our senses and challenge our abundance.
We plan, shop, prep, execute, savor and clean up the mess for our meal times.
In life…where do you plan, shop, execute, savor and clean up the mess?
What lessons can be learned from the plate of life?
How hungry are you?
Plan:
Choice is your plan or your growth goal.
The foods we pick are personal. We either like them or we don’t. Sometimes in the name of diet, we simply tolerate our choices. We may want one thing, but accept another because it is more readily available or easier to deal with, or because we think it is better for us. What are you in the mood for? What do you want to sample? We face a new set of meal choices every day. We can overfill our plates or set limits on portion size. The decision is ours.
Just as you make meal selections about what fills your plate each day, you have the same ability to choose what fills your plate of life everyday. How do you spend your time? What do you want to be doing? What are you in the mood for? Do you want something specific in your personal or professional life; yet, you may be accepting something else because it is more readily available or easier to deal with? Are you overindulging in things that are not good or productive for you? What have you always wanted to try, but haven’t allowed yourself to sample?
How can you create a recipe for that?
Shop:
Shopping is an abyss. It nurtures your exploration with the unknown.
When we go to the supermarket, we are on an exploration. We may have a list and will ourselves to stick to it, but what if something on our list is not available? What happens if there are new products on the shelves that are interesting and useful? We read the labels, we research the brands, and we look at the prices. We make decisions based on need and hunger and desire and packaging. Supermarket shopping allows for research and comparison and play. It provides us with the bandwidth to disrupt our day with a bit of the unknown.
In your personal and professional life…what are you shopping for? You’ve set a goal or a plan, now it is time to explore the opportunities that support that goal or plan. What ingredients do you need to assemble in order to execute your meal? Where will you add a little more spice, or try something different then you have done before?
Where can you play with, challenge, and change the way you assemble the pieces?
Execute:
Execution is the work involved toward achieving your goal.
Time to make dinner. We pull out the recipe, gather all the ingredients, use reverse engineering to determine when we want to eat so that we can plan the appropriate prep and cook time. The net effect is that cooking is work. We may love it, it may be a necessity, but it is still work. In order to create that meal, we need to manage our time, plan our ingredients, and step into the task. We may substitute ingredients, create something from scratch; add a little more or a little less of something. The meal cannot be created without the work. Even if we dine out, we have reservations to make, destinations to get to, time commitments to adhere to, and decisions to make in regard to menu choices and consumption. There is still “work” involved in getting through that next meal.
Got goals? What are the steps, the prep and execution required to move toward them? Your personal or professional recipe outlines many components. Turning your plans into reality involves commitment and work, trial and error. You may want to substitute one thing for another. You may want to try something different and trust yourself to explore tweaking the recipe as it is written. You may want someone else to do the hard parts and delegate the tasks, but you still need to show up for your own plate of life.
The goal is the meal; the prep and execution are the means to that end.
Savor:
Enjoying what you created is life’s reward. Pause.
We planned our meal. We shopped for it, and did the work to create it. It is time to enjoy the results. Savoring the meal on our plate means that we must be present in the moment and uninterrupted. Put down that phone, turn off the TV and engage in really tasting and enjoying the results of your labor…the meal itself. What are the aromas from the kitchen? How tempting and inviting does dinner look on our plate? Are the colors engaging and are the food groups textural in any way? How does it taste? Did trying something differently or using a new ingredient add to or detract from the meal? How can we stop long enough to actually enjoy the moment and reward ourselves for a job well done? Pause.
In your personal or professional life, when you set and work toward a goal, shop for and research what you need, and then worked on and executed the steps toward achieving it, you also need to take the time to feel abundant. Celebrate what you accomplished before you push ahead to the next goal, the next task, and the next to-do. Savor the success at hand.
Pause.
Clean Up:
What worked? What didn’t work? What now?
Clean up after a meal allows us to rinse our plates and reset our kitchens. What did we enjoy most about this meal and what would we do differently next time? Would we like to make this recipe again? Do we now know what we could substitute to cut time? What if the entire meal was a disaster? Does this mean that we will not cook or eat again? Are we quitting and no longer filling our plate? If this dinner were out, would we return to this restaurant? Why or why not? Clean up allows us to reflect and to measure what we want to repeat and what we do not. It resets us for the next meal.
In our daily lives, clean up allows you to access your results. You set a goal, planned and shopped for the ingredients that were needed to achieve that goal, prepped and executed the work involved and then savored the results. Clean up time allows for you to write your own testimonial. How did it go? What did you achieve? What needs more work? How can you celebrate your success and embrace your fails? Bad meal, bored with the results? Great meal, can’t wait to make it again? The clean up allows you to wipe off your personal and professional plates and to reset for the next place of growth. Clean up provides time to evaluate and pivot based on results. Your plate of life is a work-in-progress and an evolution and reflection of the moment.
Rinse and repeat. What will you be serving for your next meal?
Randi Levin CPC, founder & CEO, Randi Levin Coaching– is a certified transitional life strategist, author, inspirational speaker, and reinvention expert. She holds a BS Degree in Journalism from The University of Maryland and a professional coaching certification from The Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching. She believes that we have the choice and the power to create our own legacy each and every day. Randi utilizes her Signature GPS Coaching System as a catalyst for her clients to clarify and refresh their journeys, giving them support and permission to pivot, to change, and to ask, “What’s next?” Randi is a contributor and featured expert for Huffington Post, Thrive Global, DivorceForce, Identity Magazine, and a variety of national publications and podcasts. Randi is the creator of Recoloring Life Workshops as featured in The Wall Street Journal. She is also a co-author in the best selling anthology series Get Results! – A toolbox for change and transition.
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