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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Derek Olsen, I can’t wait to attend Podcast Movement this weekend in Dallas, and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share my struggle with replacing old things with new things…
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What I Learned Yesterday:
A couple of years ago I found myself overwhelmed by my schedule. Between work, family, church, my social life, and everything else I found it hard to keep up. I got stressed out and started becoming irritable. I was exhausted.
I was talking with a friend about how my schedule was too crowded and I was having a hard time cutting things out so that it could be more manageable.
This friend used the phrase plate size to describe a person’s schedule. He also talked about how everyone has their own plate size, some people can handle a lot and some people can’t handle as much. He went on to say that when a person tries to put too much on his or her plate, not everything will fit and something will fall off. The result is usually stress, frustration, or even a feeling of failure. People too often try to put the same amount onto their plate as a person with a larger plate has on their plate and that just doesn’t work.
That’s what I had done, I was trying to put way too much on my plate, things were falling off, and I was stressed about it.
The plate size image made a lot of sense to me. There are only so many hours in the day and there is only so much energy in my mind and in my body. Once that energy has been used up, trying to do more can be damaging to my wellbeing. I end up doing a lot of things poorly instead of doing a few thing well.
So now I’m digging this plate size idea. Everyone has their own unique plate size and comparing to someone with a larger plate or a smaller plate size isn’t helpful.
But the challenge them becomes choosing what to put on your plate. And even further, when I want to add something new, what do I remove in order to make room.
If I just add something new and don’t removing something specific, something will fall off and it might be something that I didn’t want to fall off. What falls off becomes random. What falls off might be something good like an hour’s worth of sleep or an hour spent with my family or exercising.
When I don’t carefully choose what to remove I’m handing over those important decisions to chance. I am risking shoving something out of my life that I value. And why would I be surprised when I find that something good has been shoved out of my life if I’m leaving it up to chance?
So here’s what I learned about adding and removing stuff to my plate…
- I learned that everyone has a plate size and that comparing isn’t helpful. You might feel like you are supposed to be able to accomplish as much as someone with a larger plate size but this just isn’t true.
- I learned that your plate is always totally full. You can’t really do nothing, even when you are doing nothing you are doing something.
- I learned that when you add something new to your plate something has to be removed first.
- And finally, I learned to carefully choose what I add to my plate and carefully choose what I remove from my plate.
This idea that everyone has a plate size and that it’s up to you to choose what does and does not find it’s way onto your plate has helped me manage my schedule ever since.
How about you? How big or small is your plate and how do you go about managing what’s on and not on it?
I’m Derek Olsen and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
I’d like t
o give you a free book. It’s call 4 ½ Conversation Starters. This little e-book is perfect if you and your partner would like to get on the same page in the finance department of your marriage.
Visit derekandcarrie.com to get your free copy of 4 ½ Conversation Starters right now. And if you just can’t get enough, check out my other podcast called Better Conversations on Money and Marriage.
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