Almost everything you will face in life will appear overwhelming at first glace. Most things will take multiple glances before you can see that it is just a bunch of little tasks all crammed into one accomplishment. You must step back and break it down into smaller sections. Once you have it broken down into more manageable portions you will be able to overcome each portion individually. One by one you will work to accomplish the “big picture”. Most things you will face, will be easier in a sense if you have faced that issue in the past. Only as long as you learned more about it the first time through. If you weren’t paying attention, you are bound to run into the same problems over and over again, without the hope of a solution. You won’t ever be able to quit making the same mistakes if you never note how you got through it the first time. To explain more clearly what I mean I found a very real world example of this process.
Breaking things down into a more manageable way of understanding each “part of the process”; is crucial in many different areas of life.
For some perspective; My son is turning five in about 3 three weeks. For his birthday I have decided I want to make him a “Catboy CatCar” Cake (from PJ Masks). Well when I first had the idea, I realized that I hadn’t a clue on how to do this or even where to start. Not much more then make a cake, stack it and frost it. This took everything I already know to the next level. So far I am learning a lot. But everything had to be broken down so I could take it one step at a time. Not overwhelm myself. I know from watching all them “Cake shows” that it helps to have time to practice what you plan to make. I know from life, its a good idea to practice and learn as much as you can before it is time to require that knowledge. I went through and made a list of everything I needed to learn and the order in which I need to learn it. Just like I did for the areas of my life that need change. I must say it was much easier to make a list on Cake then it was to make lists for my “Life problems”.
I realized at the beginning that I must learn how to make homemade white cake, simply because the box cakes are not cooperating the way I need them to. Also I needed to find a better recipe for fondant. Several months ago I made fondant for my nieces cake, but there was not enough to cover the whole cake AND I did not like the texture of it at all. So about a month ago I started playing with recipes on marshmallow fondant. I am still learning how to work with it, proportion it right and color it.
Once I have the homemade cake recipe down, then I can learn how much batter is needed to fill each pan. Next I must learn how to stack and carve the cakes just right. I have roughly three weeks to figure out all of this. Three weeks before I must put my new skills and accumulative knowledge together. Everything that is being learned right now, everything that is being practiced, is to prepare me for what needs done next month.
My Unique Advice For Today: Learning and bettering your “life skills” is important. It helps prepare you for life events you will face down the road. It improves your understanding so when you reach a juncture you will already have the skills to overcome it. It is true for all areas of your life. What ever it is in your life you are facing right now; break it down, spell it out and do some research.
The failed trials, the garbage cakes, the hours of washing dishes and scraping powdered sugar off the counters; will all be worth every minute, the moment my son sees his cake.
Personally I believe that every skill we will need throughout our life time has to be learned through trial and error. I gives us perspective and shows us that it is fine to make mistakes. We can learn from each mistake we make, if we are paying attention to what we are doing. Taking notes on things we are learning to keep them in mind for future reference. Mistakes are inevitable but learning how to handle situations, bettering one mistake at a time is a life long pursuit. You will make progress only if you actively pursue skills that are required.
It is really a lot to take in. It is also sort of hard for me to explain the way I would like to. Your life is way more important then some cake. But the process is the same for everything. What ever it is in your life you are facing right now; break it down, spell it out and do some research. There are millions of people facing similar issues, and millions of places you can go to research ideas and study skills you could stand to use. It can all help you out tremendously.
~CaveBaby~
Don’t forget to come back Wednesdays and Fridays @6pm for more Unique Advice! 🙂
(After I get this Catboy CatCar Cake made I would like to write a post on it and maybe link a how to or something. I will also site all of the places I went to research everything that I needed to accomplish this one major task in our journey. So come back if you would like to know how it all turned out.)
Unique Advice 