Want to know how to handle stress and be far more efficient, in general? Below is a post from the Barefoot Executive, Carrie Wilkerson.
From Carrie...
No, I am not turning into a foodie blog or a cooking blog…trust me ~ this will be about business, goal-setting and life.
I’ve recently joined a produce co-op that I love (Bountiful Baskets, if you are curious enough to Google it) and we get the opportunity every few weeks to ‘add on’ something that is in season at a great savings. So, on one particularly ambitious order day recently, I tacked on a case of 36 lbs of pears to my order.
My mom raised me to know how to can, preserve and ‘put up’ produce from our garden and the farm stands, so these pears were begging to be made into pear butter and preserves! Yum!
Last weekend, right off the bat, I made pear butter and it was delicious! But then the week progressed in a blur and my pears were ripening at warp speed. I just couldn’t manage to ‘fit in’ the time to put the rest of them up.
I decided that today (Friday), I would take some time while the kids were in school to jar the old-fashioned preserves, so while I was lying in bed last night, unwinding after a few exhausting days…I pulled up the recipe I had bookmarked.
Uh-oh. The old-fashioned recipe I’d been dying to try required that the pears soak overnight. Not only did they need to soak, they had to be peeled, cored and sliced. DAD-GUMMIT!!! (Note from Jill: Not a great example of how to handle stress.)
Let me be clear. It was 9:20pm when this hit me. So, I had some choices.
You know what I did. I got up.
(Note from Jill: Seems like Carrie knows exactly how to handle stress.)
Barefoot and in pajamas, I padded into the kitchen after a grueling few days, already unwound, tired and at this point, maybe even cranky.
There were 24 lbs of pears staring at me from the produce box. Daunting to say the least!
So, I started ‘chunking down the goal’.
Guess what? I instantly had relief! I had 3 goals…either one was okay and would still be a job done. (Note from Jill: This is a great idea for how to handle stress! Sometimes it's all about the psychology.)
Then, it became a little bit of a game…”I only have to work at this until 10. Just hang in there until 10, Carrie – You’ve got this!”
Or — “Hmmmm I wonder if I could peel these even faster than that and finish BEFORE 10? You’ve got this, Carrie!”
Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fun. Looking back, I should not have waited until I was low energy to have started, but it was what it was
How did it end?
At 10pm, I was relieved and excited!! I could stop! But, guess what?? There were only 3 pears left in the sink and my momentum was such that I could NOT put them back in the box!! I peeled them too!! My bowl was full, my sink was empty, I was SO proud! I went to bed THRILLED that I had set that goal, finished the task and could wake up to pears ready to preserve! Wahoooooo!
Carrie, please hurry and tell us what you’re trying to tell us…
Yeah Carrie! We want to know how to handle stress, too!!
Please connect the dots for us…we know it’s coming…
Today, I’m happy to report that the preserves are jarred and cooling. I rested like a champ last night, with a really great feeling of accomplishment. And I’ve been applying this to my business tasks today too…
Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive.
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