15 Minute Solutions

I set out to make a 15 minute clean sweep and reorganization of the kitchen pantry. It has become not just a food storage area, but a general drop-off point for all kinds of stuff, some not food related. It is also relatively generous in size, and somebody’s law of something dictates that available stuff will swell and expand to fill all available areas unless rigidly controlled. So the pantry is full of all kinds of stuff that either have never been used, or were used once, or get used sporadically, or get lost in the shuffle and repurchased until we have multiple containers.

15 minutes actually turned into 1.5 hours and a lot of gathering, reorganizing, dumping, and relocating. During the course of the clean up I came across buggy pasta from 2 years ago, 5 different kinds of rice, 4 kinds of grits, 6 types of flours, 12 kinds of teas, 5 flavors of honey, 2 kinds of agave nectar, 6 heretofore overlooked bottles of our favorite wine, 12 types of dried fruits, 3 kinds of oatmeal, 7 kinds of ancient grains ranging from buckwheat to red quinoa, 5 lbs of graham cracker crumbs, 5 kinds of dried seaweeds, hemp powder, 3 flavors of olive oil, 2 varieties of balsamic vinegar, 8 varieties of dried and canned beans, 4 types of canned tomatoes, 4 kinds of salt, 5 types of chocolate, shredded coconut, coconut oil, coconut water, coconut milk, and coconut flavoring, a post-apocalyptic stash of sugar, malted milk and rum, and a bottle of lemon rinds soaking in grain vodka (my lemoncello project, lost and overlooked).

When the reorganization was finished everything was back in its designated area and it looks like a serviceable, efficient pantry once again. Now I have to summit the task of actually using the items in the pantry (what the hell am I going to do with 32 oz of tamarind paste?). A lot of stuff went into the trash. A few items got transferred to the refrigerator or the spice cabinet. Those will be the targets of my next 15 minute clean ups.

As the cold weather and winter season sets in, this is the time of year I generally forgo my running routine (if that is even what it can be called). For three to five months, from mid-October to mid-March I fall out of the habit of daily running. This year I have fallen out of it even sooner, not taking a decent run since around early September. Oh, I have my excuses, but no reasons other than the suspect ones.

I want to keep the engine running this winter, instead of idling. I’m going to jump on the treadmill every day from now on for a 15 minute run. That’s it, no miles and miles or hours and hours. 15 minutes every day at a pace that will push my heartbeat into the 80 – 105 bpm range. It may only be in the range for a short time, intially, but creating and maintaining the habit is my first priority.

Though I want it to be daily, this first week I’m going to settle for every other day. Maybe next week, too. I balance my treadmill work right now with 10 minutes of brisk walking pace, with 5 minutes of challenging running, broken into increments; like 2.5 minutes of walking, 2.5 minutes of running, 2.5 minutes of walking, 1.5 minutes of running, 4 minutes of walking, 1 minute of running… like that. Each week I will try to increase the proportion of time I spend running. By the end of the month I’d like to be running 2/3rds the time and walking 1/3rd.

I know I can fit 15 minutes of treadmill work into my day, no matter the day. It is finding the will and the stamina to keep it up.

This morning I restarted a routine I used to do with on and off regularity. I take my yoga mat and go outside and perform 15 minutes worth of sun salutations. I do this either predawn or right at sunrise. I don’t do it naked, but in a way, because I am outside, I do have to overcome feelings of exposure and vulnerability. I wear only the exercise shorts I work out in, however. The reason for that is that I used to do this in Florida, and in the summer it was hot, even at 6am. Later, I did it to as a means to discipline myself and keep my focus. I sun salutated on the back patio in Florida, on the wood deck of my landlord’s apartment in Maryland, next to the hotel pool in Pennsylvania, next to a lake in Utah, in the canyons behind our hotel in Wyoming, and in the green area of my apartment complex in Atlanta. I did this (when I did it purposefully and regularly) every day, rain or shine, snow or wind, 80 degrees of 20 degrees. The guys I worked with and stayed at the hotels with would often make fun of me as they headed off to the convenience store for breakfast. When I told them that doing yoga in just a pair of shorts in 35 degree weather with snow all around improved the libido, they started asking more questions than making jokes. Under any circumstances, they usually steered clear of the crazy guy headed back to his room at daylight after stretching in his drawers, steam roiling off his skin in the December predawn. It gave me a perception of being unpredictable that I used to my advantage.

I don’t need to do that now, however. I just need a good kick-start to my morning, to feel limbered and loosened and purposeful. My back patio is pretty private, and the sun is not yet up when I start. 15 minutes, followed by a nice, cool 16 oz of water, then I begin my day. I am going to do this everyday for the next 72 days, until the end of the year. I will see then if I feel it is being beneficial and decide if I want to keep up the routine.

Changing the title of this goal to fall into alignment with one of my daily disciplines. That is to make, not find, 15 minutes each day to consciously and effectively address four needs.

• Today I started working on a Halloween shirt I want to have ready by Friday when we go out with friends.

• Today I finally got on the computer terminal upstairs and printed out all my upcoming events for the year. I discovered two things: There is a means to remote access the software from any internet-connected computer, and there is a way to mass print multiple events by only going throught the print procedure once. Two things that will make future efforts much easier and less time consuming for me.

• Today I went online and ordered some jackets and pants for a member of my former staff. We don’t work together but she still asked me to place the order for her because the uniforms are more comfortable, better wearing, and cheaper than anyplace else she can find. Took me all of 8.5 minutes.

• Today after work I sat in the Jeep, engine, radio, everything off, for 15 minutes. I didn’t check the mirrors to make sure no one was approaching my vehicle, I didn’t watch people passing on the sidewalk at the end of the drive, I didn’t fiddle with stuff inside the car that needed tending. I sat there with my hands in my lap and my gaze aimed softly at the visor I pulled down. I did absolutely nothing but sit there and breathe. When 15 minutes was up I started the car and drove home, calm and relaxed even in the heavy traffic. Traffic will usually stress me, but not today.

I doubt I will keep an daily update here on my progress. But I do want to check in once or twice a week to record the thoughts, feelings, and opportunities that arise from following this discipline.

As part of a daily practice of self discipline, I have taken on the challenge of spending one hour each day performing what I am calling “15 Minute Solutions”. For 15 minutes each day, I will take on the following tasks:

1. Spend 15 minutes doing something that I want to do
2. Spend 15 minutes doing something that I don’t want to do
3. Spend 15 minutes doing something for someone else
4. Spend 15 minutes doing nothing at all

The idea is to actually do some things that I have been putting off because “the time wasn’t right” or “I don’t have the time right now” or whatever excuse I dredge up. Using my phone’s timer, I program 15 minutes, then get to doing whatever it is I task myself with doing. I only have to do it for 15 minutes, even if it doesn’t get finished. At least I knock a chunk of it out, right? And quite often I believe the tasks can be done in 15 minutes, if I will dedicate that precious quarter-hour to the challenge.

Today I successfully tackled all my challenges. Only one item took me longer than 15 minutes – It took 22 minutes. Now that it is done, I can move it off my list of things to do that constantly get transferred, and move on to new tasks.

☑ Something I wanted to do: Read two short articles out of a magazine I bought over a month ago.

☑ Something I didn’t want to do: Cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher.

☑ Something for someone else: Wrote out the chef bio our marketing person has been asking about for two weeks.

☑ Do nothing at all: Layed on the floor in the middle of the office, hands clasped on my chest, eyes closed, not focusing on breathing or anything, just laying there (Now that 15 minutes seemed to go by quick!).

My new job is great, even though the previous chef left the kitchen a mess. Scratch that; from the look of it, the last three chefs have all had a hand in the long-term neglect. I’m changing that by degrees. My first week was almost all clean-up. My second week has been roughly half clean-up, some events and some administration. I’m planning a big “clean day” with the dishteam next week that will get us to a decent starting point where I don’t have to look around while I’m trying to focus on events and think to myself “My God… It’s full of grease!”

The bane of my cleaning efforts has been the flat top griddle. When I arrived (and for as long as I have worked there part time over the last year) it was seldom used, and layered in strata of grease and carbon. When I finally got to it on my list of things to do, I felt well armed with degreasers, carbonators, scrapers, grill bricks, griddle screens and flat top burnishers. I went to work like an archeologist removing centuries of build up on a relic. I wasn’t far wrong, when every person who came through the kitchen commented that they had never seen anyone try to clean the flat top, and as far as they knew, it had always been black.

I soaked it in degreaser for 1 hour, I went at it with the grill brick and the scraper, I followed up with the griddle screen. After an hour’s work it was nearly impossible to tell that I had done anything at all. I went back to work on it, angling to get one, tiny, dime-sized spot where metal shone through the shield of blackness. 30 minutes later I found the surface of the flat top. Progressively over the next three hours I alternately chipped away stone-hard layers of burnt on carbon, scrubbed and scrapped and polished, and used enough chemical to poison a small fish pond. I had, for my efforts, successfully cleared 90% of half of one side. (See photo above)

I went to Home Depot that night and bought a couple of wire wheels that attatched to my power drill. These are the kinds of things you use to remove layers of rust from steel, or take the paint of a car to get to the metal beneath. The next day I went to work on the flat top, protected by goggles and a vinyl apron, and wire-brushed the other half of the grill. Another three hours later and the whole top was 95% bare metal. I had ground and scrubbed and washed and chemicalized the top so much it lost all its seasoning, so the first things I cooked on it stuck. But it cooked hot, baby! Previously, it would have to be turned on full blast for about 45 minutes before it was useful to cook on, and then it cooked unevenly. Now, halfway on is fine, and heat distributes across it perfectly. Oh, and all that black grime and build up is not seasoning, as I had to point out to someone who said I was taking all the flavor off the griddle. Yeah, the flavor of burnt grease and charcoal, I answered.

For all my efforts, which were considerable, the griddle is still not 100% clear of baked on carbon. So, for 15 minutes a day I scrub and scrape and clean a dedicated portion, trying to get to all clean and polished metal. My friend came in to help me with a party Thursday. He was impressed with how clean the griddle was and how well it worked as we seared meat and made pancakes and omelets. Afterwards he volunteered to clean it up and I let him. He got the surface clean quickly, then began working away at the spots that still remained. I told him not to get obsessed, but he kept at it until the sweat ran down his face. After 30 minutes he had successfully cleaned a 3 inch area.

Eventually it will shine like a new piece of equipment (the whole kitchen will). It’s just going to take more work, in 15 minute increments. After that it will be simple maintenence. But until then…

scrub-scrub-scrub-scrub-scrub…

Setting the timer, I want to do this quickly and efficently. Notice I did not say “organize” my desk… that is a longer chore. But it is a mess and I really can’t stand trying to type on the computer and knocking stuff off the desktop and into the trash, or looking for that one article or note, and having 10 lbs of junk to sort through.

If I spend 1 minute per square foot of deskspace, I should have just enough time…

We got a treadmill recently but I haven’t put many miles on it. As part of my home routine I will do some run/jog splits for 15 minutes to warm up before my workout.

Trying to do this daily, even when workouts vary.

To my diet, that is. I am going to cheat, but parcel out my cheating in a way that I hope will help, not hurt me.

I’ve struggled a lot with impulse control in my life and food choices are no exception. I get food cravings that become almost singular and overriding in my mind. I can usually fight them off for hours, even days, sometimes weeks. Lately I have been very successful in resisting temptations.

But inevitably I make some ridiculous rationalization for why I need to have what I am craving. I promise it will be just this once, and I promise to get back on track right away. So I score a bag of chips or a sack of candy or a 10 lbs slab of applewood smoked bacon and I indulge my wicked food lust, usually over the course of an evening or two days. Then I am chastened, chagrined, and castigated for my indulgences and I resort to most austere measures to make up for my culinary infidelity.

If it is a forgone conclusion that I am going to cheat, I can make a framework that allows my cheating to have minimum impact on my dietary efforts. Currently I am being very strict during the week: mostly juice, raw vegetables, raw fruits, coffee, tea, water, and whey protein shakes. No starchy carbs, no meat, no sugar(except coffee, I use agave syrup for tea), no dairy outside of the whey. That is 5 days a week. Days 6 & 7 I loosen the reigns a little and allow myself some wine or beer (staying off the hard alcohol for now), and pretty much whatever else I want. This has been successful in that my intake of “off program” food is far smaller than it used to be. A glass of wine or a bottle of beer sustains me, I don’t need as large a portion when eating out to feel full. When at home I am steered toward better choices because that is all that is left in the cupboard. My one handicap is my junk food cravings.

So, the plan is that when I get a craving, I set the timer on Isabella and allow myself 15 minutes to fulfill it. Example: If I get a craving for sour cream and onion potato chips that can’t just be put down, I set the timer, and that is all the time I have to purchase and consume said chips. What I haven’t eaten by the time the 15 minutes are up goes in the trash (preferrably a trashcan outside a supermarket, not the one in my house; you have no idea the lengths I will go for sour cream and onion potato chips…). If I want a bottle of soda, I have to buy it and consume it within 15 minutes, or throw what is left over away. Yes, I can see myself running down the isle of Kroger with a ripped open bag of gummi bears, pushing fistfuls into my mouth while rushing to the register. Like watching a self-made sex tape, that image might be enough to put me off cheating.

More effectively, starting a timer from the moment I walk into the store compels me to get what I came there for, not wander the isles picking up even more crap I don’t need. Also, since I hate to throw anything away, I am more likely to choose the smallest package of adulteration I can; 6 oz of Skittles vs the 1 lb value bag. No buying now, stopping the timer, then resuming the countdown when I get home, either. 15 minutes to buy and consume my junk food fix.

I admit it: I cannot be good all the time. But I hope this will help me to be bad only in small doses.

15 minutes of straight punching and hitting, with all the energy I can muster. Until my knuckles bleed. Physical evidence of my internal bleeding. Sometimes it has a calming effect as I go through the frustating dilemnas of the day, seeing and feeling the bruises and torn skin. It can also have a distracting effect, and since my day started at 3am and then went straight to 10:30pm, I need a little focused distraction.