Step 5

Take Shortcuts

I almost made step 5 "Cheat" instead of "Take Shortcuts" because that's how I think of it, but I didn't want it to sound shady.  I don't mean like, "I'm just gonna dilute this house paint with a few gallons of liquid lead 'cause it's way cheaper" type shortcuts.  I mean, like, find ways to make your life easier.

For example, cooking is not exactly my life's passion.  I don't mind it, and I certainly enjoy eating, but cooking is not like, what I just love to do.  So when I cook, I try to use as many shortcuts as I can, and this really starts at the grocery store.  Buying pre-sliced mushrooms, pre-grated cheese, pre-minced garlic, pre-cut salad, etc. saves tons of time, effort, and steps in cooking.  Now, I realize this is not authentic, Pioneer-style cooking here, but I'm not out to win any awards---yet.  I'm just trying to get dinner made with enough time left over to eat it before bed.  Plus, I just really hate grating cheese.   I always end up grating my finger.

You can do shortcuts in house cleaning, too.  I safety pin my socks together before I put them in the laundry, which means not spending ten minutes searching for a matching sock the next morning!  I suppose folding your clothes and putting them in a drawer would count as a shortcut too, because then you don't spend 15 minutes searching for a shirt the next day--but I'm not that awesome yet.  Working on it.

In crafts, shortcuts would be like, ordering pre-cut fabric squares, which I totally did, or buying the no-sew fleece blanket kits, which I think is just a fleece blanket that you take out of the package and hold up while you say, TA DA!!!  Of course, the apron kit I got yesterday is a sewing shortcut, too.  None of this, "buying a pattern and trying to pin tissue paper to fabric" stuff.  Just get the pattern already printed on the fabric!  Excellent!

I was trying to think of any shortcuts to exercising, and all I could think of were steroids.  I wouldn't recommend that.

I'm sure there are lots more shortcuts out there, but my point is, don't make things harder than they have to be.  Being awesome means finding the best way to do everything, and not having to grate your own cheese/finger is definitely the best way.