P=Prepare

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” I’ve heard that quote so many times it makes me want to vomit. I also hate it because it’s true, and planning has never been my forte, at least in regards to food. And yet, I’ve learned that preparing is crucial to success. 

​Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Apparently, I’ve spent much of my life insane, but I finally realized that I was going to have to prepare for the challenges ahead if I ever wanted to reach the end zone. 

Last week we learned that, just like a championship football team, we must create PLAYs that we can practice for each predictable challenge we will face, whether we struggle to develop a healthy relationship with food, or build cohesive teams.
 
The four steps to creating an effecting PLAY include:
 
P - Prepare
L - Identify the lies
A – Action
Y - Yardstick
 
Today, let’s look at the first step to creating our PLAYS, which is Prepare.
 
Because of my husband’s profession, I often find myself at dinners where I don’t know many people, if anyone at all. The conversation topics are not always my cup of tea, and I’m tempted to use food as a way to fill my mouth, so I don’t have to talk, or to give me something to talk about. This is a predictable situation that I find myself in often, therefore, I decided to create a PLAY to help me deal with it more successfully in the future.
 
Since the first step to creating a PLAY is to prepare, I simply asked myself, what can I do ahead of time to help me make this situation as emotionally and physically satisfying as I can?

• The first thing I can do is to make sure I attend the event at just the right level of hunger. If I’m too hungry I’ll want to devour the appetizers before dinner, or snarf all of the chicken, no matter how rubbery. (‘Cause let’s be real…the chicken is going to be rubbery….) Worse yet is when the food is delectable and I eat it so fast that I don’t even enjoy it! Coming with the right level of hunger helps ensure a much greater satisfaction experience all-around!
• Another thing I can do to prepare is to make sure that the meals I have before that event are satisfying. If I’ve had a satisfying breakfast and lunch, I don’t feel so deprived if the dinner menu is less than desirable. Or if the menu is amazing, I don’t feel like I must lick the plate clean if most all of my meals are satisfying.
• I like to keep a small snack in my purse for times when the food just isn’t cutting it for me. Then I don’t feel obligated to choke down the undercooked carrots, and know I can find something else I like to eat when I get home.
• Part of preparing for a successful public dinner event is to make sure I go with the right frame of mind. As long as we’re being honest, can we admit that we usually get what we look for? If we’re certain it’s going to be a boring event, it’s likely to be. That’s why next week we’ll look at the limiting beliefs (or lies) we tend to believe about these situations and how the truth can help us undo our old conditioning that has kept us stuck in our old PLAYS all of these years.

 
Preparing is critical to meeting our challenging situations successfully, but the PLAY doesn’t end there. Next week we’ll look at how to identify the lies and limiting beliefs that threaten to hold us back.
 
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