Why I Eat My Broccoli First

My son hates broccoli. As in hold his nose, make a queasy face with every painstaking bite and fake vomit noises as he exhales.

So I always encourage him to eat it before starting his meal.

“Why not get it over with so you can enjoy your pasta? I mean, why would you want to end with broccoli??” I pleaded every time we went through this meal time drama.

And as any son would do with tried and tested advice from his mom — he ignored me.

He’d sit at the dinner table for what felt like hours, as he’d procrastinate this horrible duty. That annoying, awful broccoli was always waiting for him at the end.

And then one day, (likely out of sheer annoyance from my constant lecturing), he changed things up and ate his broccoli first.

Same nose holding, queasy face, fake vomit noise routine.

But then something awesome happened.

He REALLY enjoyed his extra cheesy curly q’s of mac and cheese. Down to the very last bite.

No procrastinating. No putting it off. No dreading what would happen at the end of this heavenly cheese party in his mouth. He simply enjoyed it.

It’s a similar thing that happens with us when we continue to put off the worst thing, the dreaded thing, the procrastinated thing, for the end of the day.

We dread it more, it seems worse than it really is, it feels so overwhelming and most often, it continues to get procrastinated for a long, unhealthy amount of time. 

• But what if you worked on your most dreaded task first?
• What if you conquered that procrastinated project before anything else in the day?
• What if you plowed through the piece that you keep putting off, first thing?

I bet you’d really enjoy the rest of your day.

:: You’d put a giant cross on this task because nothing would feel better!
:: You’d end the day feeling accomplished
:: You’d eliminate the feeling of dread all day long
:: You’d get more done in five days of doing this than you have in weeks!

If you’re still reading this, you know exactly what that thing is.

It lurks, hangs and creeps over you. You know if you took care of it, everything else would seem easier after that.

So go ahead, I dare you. Tackle it tomorrow before anything else.
That’s right. Eat your broccoli first. 

And see how good you feel.

Here’s to getting more of the right things done!

Xo,
Mridu

P.S. Is there someone if your life who could benefit from this message? Please forward this blog to them. It might be exactly what they need to hear right now.