So, we’re in the kitchen, not my kitchen, although I think this kitchen is likely to be just as familiar than the one at home. I have made the decision that I am going to learn this skill and I have committed, I really only have this option for dinner.
Deciding is a great first step and an important part of the framework and for the rest of this article I suggest you read part one for it to make sense. But there are two other key steps in the process….
STEP 2 – ALIGN WITH YOUR VALUES
I know this may sound silly but when we have a world of so many ‘hello fresh’ style companies to choose from, where do you start? That question often allows people not to start but we can pick that up another time.
This is where your objectives and values come in. Not all trainers, information companies, teachers etc are the same. Just because somebody recommends one it doesn’t mean it is the right fit for you.
For me I wanted to learn the skill so I could replicate and scale, i.e. take the same meal and cook it for more people if required. I didn’t want the mixtures or pots of whatever to be delivered, I wanted to go behind the curtain. I also wanted something really basic and I didn’t want traditional recipes, i.e. lists of ingredients and instructions that put me to sleep. I knew what I wanted to achieve, I wanted literacy.
STEP 3 – MAKE SURE THE METHOD MATCHES UP
Finally I know that I am a visual learner, in fact my preference is to stand there next to somebody whilst I make something. I remember early on in my property investing career I kept getting stuck. I then paid to go to another investor’s property to see, touch and feel it. And that was that, then I was off. I could put all the cogs together, see where it ended up and then it clicked.
So for me, Hello Fresh was ideal. In fact, there may be loads that do it the same way, this is not an article about Hello Fresh, it’s an article about how to upskill in certain areas. And for me the picture on the front gave me the end goal. The 6 steps or so on the back of the sheet with the instructions and pictures of what it should look like at that stage were a game changer, I mean real game changer. It reduced the overwhelm and it broke it down step by step. I remember once a friend teaching me how to make spaghetti Bolognese and she didn’t tell me that the water needs to cover all the spaghetti and so I ended up burning the pasta and wrecking a pan. I really do need and like every step broken down, bit by bit. And this 1 A4 piece of paper did that for me. It didn’t roll its eyes at what some may seem as obvious questions, it just broke it down step by step. Yes!
So here we are a few months later and I have a wad of those A4 sheets, I have cooked, yes that’s right, I have cooked 30 or so recipes and I now have a few core ones. I sat with my daughter and asked her to pick the picture she liked and I then moved to my next stage … scale. I then amended the amounts myself and cooked a meal designed for two for the whole family, again that may seem small, but that was my next step. I now have the confidence to take the A4 sheet as guidance and not gospel and I cannot tell you how proud I feel when I sit around the dinner table and watch my family genuinely really enjoy the meal I have cooked, it is exactly what I wanted to achieve in the process.
It reminded me that you can learn and improve your literacy in any area with the above framework. We now live in an era where there is so much information on everything, in fact it is overwhelming. Lack of knowledge is no longer the barrier to success. The real barrier is developing the skills to stick with something, but it’s much easier if you follow the above framework. It’s no secret I love the topic of personal finance and investing buy to let property and anything and everything money really. But it’s an area so many people are afraid to put their hand up to and say they don’t know something. I have spent years of being ridiculed about my lack of cooking skills when what I really needed is a clear path forward. If you do want to know more about anything money then I can be that clear path for you. Join my community and I will help or point you in the right direction of whatever you need.
Kelly Lemon
