2 Ways I'm Managing a Full Plate

It’s Tips Tuesday, so I wanted to share on something most of us can relate to…having a full plate. No, not a full dinner plate on this Taco Tuesday, but a full list of things and responsibilities we focus on daily. I have not mastered managing a full plate, but there are definitely some practices I exercise that makes managing it all happen.

On Sunday, I invited a couple friends over to enjoy Sunday dinner and the Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle Verzuz Battle. I had everything mapped out in terms of what I was making and thought I was doing good on time. Turns out my plate got full as the day went on — I had to pick up my kids from my parents, order more groceries because I was missing some things, my team meeting ran over and more. Ultimately, everything ended up working out fine and the Sunday Dinner was absolutely delicious! But in getting to that finish line and being able to manage everything on Sunday, I realized 2 important things that are key at times when our plates are too full.

Photo Credit: Honey Social

ASK FOR HELP

Why do we at times have problems asking for help? We can’t go far alone and asking for help is NOT a sign of weakness, but to me a sign of strength. I used to struggle with asking for help, but the way these 30s are set up, I’m not too proud to get support when I need it. Whether that’s outsourcing house cleaning, getting a baby sitter, asking a friend for a resource, or in the case of Sunday, asking my lovely dinner guests for help, reaching out to others for support is crucial when you have so many things on your plate.

On Sunday, once 6:00pm rolled around and I was still conducting my team meeting, I knew then I needed help in order for any dinner to happen. My brother came over early, so I asked him to go to the store to get the wine. My best friend brought the mac and cheese, so that was 1 less thing for me to cook. Another friend I put right to work when she walked in the door and had her fry the catfish, while I finished the other dishes. Truth be told, God knew she needed to fry the fish because she put her foot in it, and it was some of the best fried catfish I ever had. If I was too prideful to ask for help, we would have ate when Patti and Gladys were on their last song lol. Moral of the story — let’s all do ourselves a favor and ask for help when we really need it. Teamwork makes the dream work!

REMOVE A TASK

Another helpful practice when you have a full plate is to remove a task and for some of us that also means saying no! Now, I recognize for many of us who have big dreams, families, run businesses, etc., our plates might realistic always or most of the time have a lot on them. I consider it the cost to be the boss, as long as most of things on our plates are tied into the things that matter to us most. However, even in recognizing the full plate is real and apart of the process, that doesn’t mean that every single thing on there really needs to be on there at that moment. Sometimes we put things on our plate that do not need to be on there or that need to be pushed off to another time.

In the case of Sunday again, here I go adding stuff on my plate. Why in the world was I gonna try to make sweet potato pudding at 8:00pm? Why?! When we already had fried catfish, chicken wings with mambo sauce, string beans, rice, mac and cheese and rolls already being whipped up. Sure, sweet potatoes would have been bomb, but it made more sense for me to take that right off of my to do list, which I did and it allowed for us to have dinner at a decent time while watching the show. I encourage all of us (me included) to examine our plates and have the courage to remove anything on them that doesn’t need to be there or push it off to another time that makes more sense. Even more, we have to learn to say no when we’re already to the max. Yes, some opportunities deserve our yes, but we can’t say yes to everything, so get comfortable with saying no, which will ultimately lead to us having plates that serve us well.

As always, I’m preaching to y’all, while I’m preaching to myself, too. I hope we all ask for help and/or remove at least 1 task this week, so that we have peace and the support we need. Share some ideas below for ways you’re managing your full plate.

Have a glowing day!

Xo,

Shalyce