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Behind “The Process”: A food Blogger’s Guide to Productivity
I thought about titling this one, How to Unf**k Your Mind. Ha. Back in my military days, someone who couldn’t do something right was often told to unf**k themselves. It was pretty funny.
Oh! We used to call people soup sandwiches, too. I miss that. I think I’ll bring it back. Now. So sit back, relax, and get ready for this, ya soup sandwich!
SKIP TO THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
From the Mind of a Go-Getter
Recently I sat down with renowned food blogger and healthy recipe engineer, Liz Della Croce, for my podcast Creative Ops. You may have seen her and/or her work in Good Housekeeping Magazine, Shape Magazine, Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, Food Network Blog, Huffington Post, TODAY Food, Tastespotting, Foodgawker, The Cooking Channel, on the cover of Women’s World magazine, or on her blog: The Lemon Bowl.
Not too friggin shabby, eh?
Well Liz was absolutely delightful and I hope you subscribe to Creative Ops on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever, do you know as soon as it (and future shows) drop!
Get on with it!
Oh. Right.
Liz was a lot of fun to talk to, but the part of our conversation that stuck with me the most was about how she gets stuff done.
Besides her food blog, she does online cooking classes, mentors business owners, serves as a brand ambassador, and is active in the food/business scene in West Michigan. She does more in a day that I probably do in a week.
How?
Pretty simple from the sound of it, really. She says that she has all of her time accounted for, and that makes it difficult to slack off.
See, this is my problem–the slacking off. I mean, I wrote a book, do this blog, and write professionally on other blogs (with waaaay more followers, but that’s a different story…), so I don’t entirely slack off, but…
I told Liz that I’m a bit of a perfectionist who tends to withdraw as perfection goes out the window. Otherwise called “lazy.” I give myself too much time to think about everything except that which needs to be done. I looked for that IG post and wound up surfing IG for 20 minutes, for example. But when I have a list and some blocked off time, things get done amazingly fast. For me. Still a work in progress, folks.
Recipe for Success:
- Identify what you are going to get done.
- Block off set times to get those things done.
- Police yourself; stay on task in that time.
- Be amazed how much more you got done with a self-imposed deadline.
When you have shit to do, don’t sit down and hope your mind magically congeals around what you hope gets done, ya soup sandwich. Like Liz said: Block out time to do things and use that time well. You’ll be surprised how much you get done.
Tell yourself or write it down (you know you better than I do (yes, I ryhmed on purpose (so what?!?))) that you’ll work on ____________ for the next hour, then _____________ for the next 30 minutes, then take a step back after and see how much you got done.
The kicker here is that it’s on you to kick your own ass a little and make sure you don’t wander or get bogged down by what you want it to be.
If you have to write a term paper (I feel you, it sucks ass), set the time to work on/complete the task. Stick to it. I’ve been trying it and–so far, anyway–it’s been good. And, honestly, when I do have downtime now, it’s much more enjoyable scrolling Instagram when I know I’m not putting something off. Speaking which, I’m gonna go get on the Gram now! Then maybe Twitter…
In Closing…
Was that too simple for ya? You already knew all that? OK, smartypants. If you’re so good at getting shit done, then why’d you read the stupid thing in the first place?!?!?!
Gotcha, ya soup sandwich…
Take er easy, dude.
-CT
Christopher Tallon writes, podcasts, and…wait a second. Are you actually reading this? High five! Follow me here: