Three Word Exercise

January 1, 2015 — 3 word challenge, Chris Brogan, fabric, food prepping, leverage, plan

fruit salad

Chris Brogan has announced his 3 words for 2015.   This annual challenge is an alternative to the classic resolution style.  I have done it with success, and also done it when I forgot my words entirely.  Like anything else, persistence is needed for results too occur.  I am pleased with my own choices this year, patience, persistence, and poetry.  They have meaning across the board to upgrades I aspire to make.  I plan to use them liberally throughout the year.  I also plan to use Brother Brogan’s words to apply to a specific change I am making in my household.  There is no rule that says you can’t admire and swipe other people’s words if they suit you.  His words work for my new world of menu planning.  I have become convinced that improvisation is not the best way forward with nutrition.  It has served me well, and I am healthy.  I want to develop the skills and the results of managing our home kitchen like a chef with a restaurant. I know that planning and balance will bring lower costs and higher quality nutrition to our diet.   We will waste less produce and use the freezer to make the most of what we buy.  This new discipline fits perfectly with the words I am appropriating from Brother Brogan for this project.

His words are:

• Plan –I don’t know why I resist planning menus or food prepping.  I believe it is a silly idea about authority and total creativity.  I will not be less creative when I add the layer of planing, prepping, and shopping specifically for a menu.  It is exactly like planning a travel itinerary carefully and precisely so that serendipity and improvisation can take place.  I am devoting a calendar to the menu project, as I used to do with my travel agenda for the year.  The trip to better nutrition has been launched.
• Leverage–My guru of this whole idea, Dr. Loretta Standley, publishes a very helpful and concise guide for healthy habits in her Activities of Daily Living segment.  One of the six categories she covers daily is food prepping.  I am pretty good with all the other 5 categories, and I see exactly why this is a great practice.  The idea of cooking once and making many dishes to use/freeze leverages time, ingredients, and energy.   On Dr. Loretta’s advice I am systematically clearing out the freezer and arming myself with labels to track the contents in the future.  It is so simple, yet I have never done it.  My favorite piece of advice on this subject she has given lately is All or Nothing—meaning either make the amount you will eat right now, leaving nothing to store, or have a plan (see word number one) to use and freeze the excess.  Brilliant!!!! Why have I not done this???
• Fabric–This is where the effort and attention to balance create a strong, nutritious, gourmet experience.  I enjoy trying new recipes and ethnic ingredients imported from elsewhere.  By planning and leveraging my ingredients and my time I will make a structure that supports our health and well being.  Chris talks about weaving strength into his business by staying healthy and fit.  The menu planning and food prepping not only provide superior dining options at home, but free up time for other activities.  It is an infrastructure that supports our health and fitness, as well as our time management.  Planning and prepping are the warp.  Creativity, availability, and improvisation are the weft of our 2015 diet.

Thanks, as always, for your guidance, Chris.  I am happily applying your words to my advantage this year.  I have loved your teaching since Trust Agents.  I hope your words will be fabulous for you as well.  All the best in 2015.