Mash potatoes, gravy, corn, some meat, salad, a little extra here a little extra there. Piling higher and higher, spilling over the edges, our metaphorical plate of responsibilities is usually more than a little full. With the buffet of new tasks, chores, and expectations always available, especially in new up and coming companies, it can be hard to know what ‘foods’ to pile on. Also which ones you may need to start passing. For any of us looking to trim down on a few ‘task calories’ here are some guidelines that are always helpful to keep our metaphorical servings balanced for our plates sake and our overall daily happiness.
Know your buffet
Going into a job we aren’t always sure what is expected of us. Make sure you go through you job description and get a true feeling of what is already being served up to you. Understanding what is readily available on a daily basis is a good way to know what other tasty foods you might be able to incorporate during the week or month.
Prioritize the Portions
The day gets crazy; making the board packet, arranging the appointments, answering questions out of the blue, copying papers and making made dashes for random things the office desperately needs. It can all get overwhelming and before you know it you’re gorging on office tasks. With more food being served on one day, and barely any on others, you have to know what you can chow down now and what food portions you can save for another day.
Remember all your meals
So you go back to the fridge and there in the far back corner you have completely forgot the sirloin steak that you thawed, prepped, and now it’s sat too long and isn’t consumable any longer. All that work down the drain. Remembering things that you are prepping for your meals, and food you already have on your plate, is vitally important. A great strategy is sticky notes you can easily write on and toss away as you finish the task, or a notebook to keep your long term meals up to date on the menu.
Combination Foods
You have greens here, some sliced olives over there, a lemon from somewhere, cherry tomatoes, and meaty salmon. Instead of approaching everything by itself it’s good to know what things go together. A tasty salmon salad with some lemon zest might be just the thing. So, knowing you can drop off a client product, and on the way back to the office pick up the paper towels, coffee, and those sticky notes you desperately need, is the best way to get many things done at once. Know where your combinations are.
Find high energy snacks
Once you know what foods you are working with sometimes you can find more efficient ways to consume them. Learn ways to prep and enjoy those tough meals you don’t like as much and they will become easier to work with later on. Taking a class in excel, if you aren’t savvy with the program, will allow you to understand the tricks of the trade and make those graphs a little more bearable to prep for company meetings.
While the list can go on and on and how to get the perfect combinations for your plate, an efficient energy to portion ratio, you have to keep in mind each plate is different and everyone’s buffet has lots of options. Knowing when to pass on a meal and when you could use a few more calories is the difference between slowing yourself down to ‘bump on a log’ pace or getting yourself to the healthy and active pace to be the perfect efficient machine.
