What Chibatta Bread Can Teach You About Productivity

I love bread! Sourdough, naan, honey wheat, pita, and the list could go on.

However, if I ate as much bread as I wanted to, it would lead to other problems altogether!😊 So instead, I keep some bread in the freezer that I take out as needed. One of my favorites is chibatta rolls.

I rarely take one out early in the day, so I use a brief defrost in the microwave followed by time in the toaster oven. Using only the microwave would lead to very chewy, tough bread. Yet only the toaster oven would mean a frozen middle or burnt bread.

Why am I talking about chibatta bread? Because it can teach you something about crossing off your to-dos.

For many months, I put a chibatta roll in the microwave for 45-seconds at 50% power. This made it soft enough to cut, albeit it was still a little frozen in the middle, which was taken care of by using a lower temperature in the toaster oven. I was scared that 50-seconds in the microwave would lead to tough bread.

One day I decided to throw all caution to the wind and used 50% power for 50-seconds.😊 Guess what? It was perfect! I could easily cut it in the middle, butter it, and toast it in the microwave.

At this point, you still want to know why I’m talking about chibatta bread. Because you can learn something from that extra 5-seconds.

When you have a medical condition that leaves you beyond tired, or in pain, or not thinking clearly, it’s difficult to get basic chores done. This includes everything from laundry, paying bills, making meals to cleaning, car maintenance as well as health-related tasks. Each one seems overwhelming and all of them together feel completely impossible.

That’s where the extra 5-seconds comes in. It’s the next tiny step that moves you forward. Here are some tactics I use:

Related to lack of energy associated with depression:

• Empty the dishwasher by area: bottom shelf one time and top shelf another. For some reason I hate to empty the silverware, so I do it one section at a time. It can take me two days just to put the silverware away.
• Clothes from the dryer go to different locations within my craft-room. Clothes that need to be folded go on the back of one chair, and clothes that need to be hung go over another one. Other pieces, pajamas, underwear, workout clothes, etc. get put in groups on a table. Sometimes it takes me weeks to get a load totally put away. The good thing is that because the clothes are in categories, it’s easy for me to go in and grab anything if I need it. There is a time limit though because after one load of laundry the chairs tip over and the piles on the table merge.
• Put mail into two piles or containers: items in envelopes and things not in envelopes. Why? Because envelopes usually contain the more important information. So if my energy is limited, I can open one or two envelopes at a time. Depending on the contents, I can add a note regarding what needs to happen next, put it in the place where the next step will occur, recycle, or shred.

Related to my knee replacement 6-months ago:

• Pain and low energy made it difficult to do my at-home physical therapy (PT) exercises. Yet I knew they were crucial for a complete recovery. Most exercises were two sets of 10 and twice a day. I changed it to four sets of 5 and four times a day. Each session took less time and was less painful.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) is disputing payments to my PT. I’m well acquainted with the rules of PT – 30 appointments within a calendar year. So I made sure to only go 30 times, which I confirmed with the physical therapist. While I’m in the right, dealing with it feels overwhelming. First, I drew a small 5×6 table and added the 30 dates. Another day I downloaded all Explanation of Benefits (EOBs) related to the surgery, follow-up appointments, and PT. Other days I opened the EOBs in groups of five. Only when I’d done all of this did I call BCBS – at a high energy time because I knew it was going to take clear thinking and energy to handle the call. Right now it’s in the middle of reprocessing. I’ll see what happens next.

I know that breaking down projects into really small tasks can be difficult for some people. You may find this question helpful:

It may be useful to ask this question out loud!

What one very tiny step can you take to move an important task closer to completion?

Typing your “one very tiny step” in the comments below will make you more likely to take action!