The “Taco Salad Principle” And Your Success

Overloading your plate – that’s what I refer to as “The Taco Salad Principle”.

Curious why I’ve dubbed it that? Well, it donned on me in the midst of a family gathering! You see, my family is quite a diverse crew. Some eat dairy, some don’t. These two love tomatoes, the others prefer to skip them. A couple eat more like bunnies, others more like carnivores. And the kids – well what they like varies from week to week! A few like a generous amount of dressing and others skip it altogether!

It makes sense that when I serve taco salad, rather than combining all the ingredients, I simply put out the assortment of options and allow everyone to assemble their own taco salad just the way they like it.

The downside to serving taco salad this way is that I have a tendency to add a little of this and a little of that. It soon ends up being a serving that has the potential to feed half my family. Let’s just say my eyes are a whole lot bigger than my stomach! I call that the taco salad principle – when a whole bunch of a little adds up to too much!

Your Plate

Your plate is your capacity – what you are realistically able to take on. Leaders are famous for adding more and more to their plate, but they aren’t the only ones! The “taco salad” principle applies to just about everyone!

Sometimes it’s piling on more and more work responsibilities or career related commitments. Other times, it is overextending yourself in your personal life. And when you pile on too much in any aspect of your life, it impacts all the other facets of your life, including investing in your own self-care which seems to go by the wayside first.

There are a number of reasons why you might be overloading your plate like…

• Being good at and passionate about a lot.
• Trying to prove your Fear Monster wrong.
• Difficulty delegating or saying no.
• Unrealistic expectations.
• People pleasing.
• Fear of missing out on a great opportunity.
• Seeking significance or fulfillment – doing rather than being.
• Chasing money, recognition, or success.
• Being uncomfortable with rest, solitude, or being alone.
• The inability to savor life.

Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind to help you be more realistic about what you take on:

1. Use Smaller Plates

One trick to eating smaller portions is to use a smaller plate.

Be honest with yourself about what you are able to take on. Your capacity is limited. Each task or responsibility might not seem like much, but together it quickly adds up to too much.

Are you making the mistake of gauging what you are able to take on from a professional perspective, but neglecting to consider the many personal responsibilities you have as well? Not to mention that in order to function at your best, there are certain habits that need to be in place. Is there space for good habits, relationships, self-care, etc. in your life?

One way of creating smaller plates in your life is to narrow your focus each year, month, and day. For example, having one to three big goals to concentrate on each year. Breaking that down further to three goals for this month. Then your top 3 tasks for each day or your most important tasks (MIT) for the day? What one extra activity will you engage in each week? By setting boundaries like these you naturally limit what you take on.

2. Don’t Compare

As a teenager, consuming a massive plate of taco salad was no big deal. At this stage of life, my metabolism is not what it used to be! Having a slower metabolism has been a big adjustment!

Metabolisms and energy levels vary from person to person. They also fluctuate depending on your season of life. That’s why it makes no sense to compare your capacity to someone else’s!

Instead, get crystal clear on the load that’s right for you today! Then don’t forget to keep on assessing what the best load for you is. After all, you are continuously changing.

3. Drink Water and Eat Fiber

Americans are drinking more water than they did thirty years ago, but surprisingly 75% of adults in this country are chronically dehydrated.

Even more alarming is that 95% of Americans don’t take in adequate fiber!

Water and fiber are seriously lacking in American diets!

In the same way, essential ingredients for doing life in a healthy way may be missing from your life. Be sure you are getting plenty of sleep, exercising, and eating healthy foods which all require an investment of time.

What’s slipping off your plate that would be advantageous to your health and enable you to be more productive and operate at your best?

4. Eat More Slowly

How frequently are you rushing through a meal or eating on the fly?

Slowing down and savoring your food makes a meal considerably more satisfying and enjoyable!

Hurrying through life is all too common! What if you put a halt to the hurry and made an effort to focus on just one task at a time? How might that change your experience?

The more your rush, the more likely you are to make mistakes and experience stress. It also crushes your creativity, not to mention having a less than positive impact on your relationships too.

Just for fun, this past week I decided to try an experiment. While facing several big project deadlines, I decided to work on a task for an hour, then pause, switch gears, and do whatever I wanted.

Because I work from home, switching gears for me might be doing something like washing the dishes or folding a load of laundry where I’m able to move around and instead of sitting in front of my computer. Sometimes I spend a few minutes reading a book, chatting with my daughter and her kids via video call, or snipping a few of the flowers from my yard and arranging them in a vase.

The point was for me to take a break and do something I wanted to do. The big surprise: this has not only been one of my most productive weeks, but it’s also been a satisfying and delightful week in spite of a few surprises.

You might not have the same freedom that I enjoy working from home, but I promise switching gears and giving yourself permission to do something you’ve been putting off, never get to, or just taking a quick break makes a difference in your level of productivity.

I dare you to slow down!

5. Quit the Clean Plate Club

Ever felt obligated to eat everything on your plate? In spite of what we’ve been led to believe, whatever is on your plate will never help the starving person on the other side of the world.

The same is true with the tasks and responsibilities you’ve allowed to fill your plate except that in many cases, allowing someone else to take on some of your tasks just might enable them to grow! You don’t have to do it all!

What tasks do you need to eliminate, delegate, or just let go of altogether?

How will you make sure you are piling your plate with activities that make the most of your skills and abilities and are tasks that only you can do?

There’s a bonus to indulging in smaller portions! It leaves room for dessert! It frees up space for what you love in your life including the people, hobbies, learning, travel, etc., without the calories or negative sugar effects! Those joy-filled activities re-energize you too! Then you are able to tackle your work with fresh zest allowing you to be a more effective leader and/or increase your productivity!

Have you been “over indulging” as a leader? What if you made room for “dessert” while focusing your efforts in a way that actually increased your productivity? Wouldn’t that be sweet?

How have you experienced the “taco-salad” principle?

–> Originally posted on 10/14/2013 this post has been updated and revised just for you! Enjoy!