What I learned from eating a large muffin

I never buy muffins.  My husband always does.

It's not that I have anything against muffins. I like muffins. Especially their tops (not to be confused with the ubiquitous "muffin top" caused by waist spillage over too tight, low cut jeans - I don't like those at all.)

I avoid muffins because they are essentially a 400 calorie carbohydrate bomb that will explode once I ingest it - causing the aforementioned ubiquitous muffin top problem I dislike.

Isn't there a proverb about this? Something like, "He who eats muffins the size of her face will soon come to regret the size of her waist." I know I got the pronouns off but I think the rest of that is right. Maybe from Proverbs 32.

But today my husband brought home muffins again. These are extra large banana-chocolate chip muffins. And I can smell them from across the room. Through the plastic wrapping.

And I could tell that this one - the one with the most chocolate chips on top - really wanted to be eaten.

So what's a girl to do? 

I approached this sensibly. I ate the top of the muffin - the very best part. Then I picked through the rest of it, pulling out the sizable chocolate chips, eating them one by one. Next I dumped the rest of it into the sink.

Now it can clog my sink disposal rather than my arteries and my jeans.

All that was needed was a little strategy, and a cold glass of milk.



What task or problem are you facing today? I bet it too could be solved with a little strategy, and perhaps some milk. Ask yourself:

• How can I break this thing down into parts? And which piece should I start with? 

• What's the most essential part to get done  - what's the muffin top of it? 

• Are there parts I can delegate, schedule for later, or dump entirely in the sink?

• And, how can I tackle this in a way that provides pleasure in the process or reward at the end, with the least amount of cost?

Sometimes when we aren't getting something done, it's because we've failed to take a few minutes to break it down into doable sections, figure out the essentials, and dump what we don't really need to do.

That's what I learned today from eating a muffin.

It will probably be another six months before I eat (or rather half-eat) another muffin. And I'll probably do it the same way. At least now I've got my strategy down.