Because taxes. (And because chocolate.)
A few weeks ago, after finally registering the copyright for Fl!p Your K!tchen, I asked a question of my Facebook hivemind: what tasks do you put off and put off and put off only to discover that, when you force yourself to do them, they really aren’t so bad after all?
Judging by the answers, most people who responded procrastinate mightily when it comes to completing paperwork, particularly of the financial variety. And I definitely fall into that category.
I will do just about anything to avoid financial paperwork—not such a good thing for an entrepreneur—and it’s something I know I should really examine more closely since as a coach, I know that the areas we aren’t willing to go often say a lot about our relationship to that facet of our lives. “Financial health” is something a lot of my clients also struggle with.
So yes, I should probably spend some time thinking about my relationship to money….
Because we’re doing our own tax returns this year after using an accountant for a while, and because my husband is doing a lot of traveling this spring, we decided to set a date on the calendar and just. do. it.
Well, here it is: Saturday, February 18, 9a–12p: TAXES.
And here we are on Saturday, February 18 at 9:46a: he’s answering “just 1 more email I need to take care of,” and I’m blogging while the chocolate muffins are baking.
Because TAXES. And because CHOCOLATE.
Leave me a comment below and let me know what task you tend to put off…and what you do to procrastinate!
I’ll think about my relationship with money another day, and in the meantime, it would be very unfair to keep the muffins to myself, right?
GF/DF Chocolate Muffins
Makes 1 dozen 2.5″ muffins
ingredients
dry
- 1 c almond meal/flour
- 1.25 c oat flour
- 1/4 c cocoa powder
- 2 T potato starch (or other starch: corn or tapioca or arrowroot)
- 1.5 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
wet
- 2/3 c coconut or other milk alternative
- 1 T lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 c coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 1/2 c maple syrup
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 c applesauce or pumpkin purée
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (NOT artificial flavoring) or 1 tsp each vanilla and almond extracts
method
- Preheat oven to 400ºF and grease a muffin tin or line it with muffin papers.
- Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Thoroughly whisk together wet ingredients in another large bowl.
- Gently combine the wet ingredients with the dry.
- Bake 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan 1/2 way through.
- Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan before serving.
Thanks for the recipe! I returned to this post in the wee hours this morning b/c I woke up realizing that it’s March. March 12th. And I still haven’t started studying for the GRE like I said I would at least weekly starting in January!
Basically I put off anything that seems hard, when those should be the first things I do. Growing up I had a younger cousin who did exactly that– he’d come home from school and his first order of business was homework so he could hurry up and go outside to play. I remember thinking, “he’s so young, and already he has this productivity/procrastination thing figured out.” I’m still figuring it out like most of us squirming procrastinators. Thanks for sharing this!
Aaaaah, Erin—so good to hear from you! Don’t forget that sometimes, procrastination creates “eustress” (as in positive stress, the kind that makes us productive under the gun). We can get very caught up in “I promised I would” and a lot of “shoulds”—try being gentle with yourself and looking into why you procrastinate: you may discover that you are someone who thrives on that boost of adrenaline, which isn’t a terrible thing—occasional stress can be beneficial as long as you have time to recover from it. In an odd way, the constant self-criticism and pressure can be more of a chronic stress, which is what you should avoid.