Last post I mentioned that people seem to be trying a whole host of new things during quarantine. Yours truly—also baked bread for the first time last weekend. The bread was probably only 60% of the way there truth be told—the texture was more of a mix between that of a muffin and bread—maybe I could have sold it as a “bruffin” and tried to make some money from it—seems like the cronut (croissant donut) and cruffin (croissant muffin) has already made it big.

This new adventure did get me thinking—are there some pro-tips to consider when starting something brand new—whether it’s a new hobby like baking, a new job or a new workout regimen. Well, according to people much smarter than me, there actually is…

Smallest bite ever. There is a great Chinese proverb: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” When starting something new, especially if it’s something brand new or something very foreign to you—the task can seem daunting, like climbing Mt. Everest (unless you are an expert climber, then please find a different metaphor). But it doesn’t have to be—the trick is literally to trick your mind by breaking up the task into not just small but miniscule pieces. Let’s say you are working out for the first time—on day 1, just put on your sneakers and yoga pants and count that as a win. Then day 2, you put on the clothes and walk to the gym (no need to even go in). On the 3rd day, you walk into the gym, do a lap and then promptly make your exit…and so on and so forth. By the end of 2 weeks, youll probably end up with actually doing 20 minutes on the treadmill. What’s the point of such miniscule steps, you ask? What a waste of time to put on exercise clothes and not actually workout!  Well, if you’re already a workout fiend, then this type of routine may seem ridiculous but if you’ve never done it before, then having “small wins” helps you build up the confidence to tackle the actual task. Call it a jedi mind trick if you will—when you fail a few times at something brand new, it’s really demoralizing and you’re very likely to call it quits. Whereas, if you feel as if you’ve accomplished something—however small, it gives you the confidence to go onwards and upwards until you finally get to the actual task.

Never know til you try. I love eating pineapple—fresh pineapple during any season is just a simple pleasure that goes a long way for me. For years, I’d always buy pre-cut pineapple from the store and never once contemplated buying a whole pineapple—and slicing it myself. From the outside, those spikes just look intimidating. Until one day, I was given one as a gift—for a hot second, I considered re-gifting it so I didn’t have to deal with it. Then quickly thought—what the heck is wrong with you, you cut dead chicken and dead cows—this smells much more pleasant. Turns out, there is also a youtube video (like there is for everything) on the step-by-step how to cut a pineapple. In the end, I made a small mess and my pineapple pieces were a bit odd-shaped but it also wasn’t the pain in the neck that I’d envisioned. My silly pineapple story aside, we all have a few self-limiting beliefs that we don’t bother questioning—maybe we’ve had them since childhood or maybe we picked them up along the way, but these beliefs are usually ingrained that we take them for fact. I recently heard this great quote: “don’t believe everything you think.” Once in a while, it’s healthy to check yourself—whether that thing you think you just can’t do or isn’t for you really is the case. If you want a tale much more inspiring than my silly pineapple story—check out Nicholas McCarthy, who is an amazing pianist in Britain— just without a right hand though. Wow! If I was born with one hand—never in million years would I want to bother with a piano—which clearly requires dexterity in both hands—believe me, even with both of my hands in tact, I sucked at it. At some point though, he managed to see beyond conventional beliefs—and look where it got him.  

Third time charm. We’ve likely all heard the expression: “third time’s the charm,” often meant to offer encouragement to those to try again after you don’t succeed the first or second time. But where exactly did the phrase come from? Turns out this phrase has origins spanning far back. In The Wives of Windsor  (1602), Shakespeare references the number 3 in saying “I hope good luck lies in odd numbers.” The old English law also stated that anyone who survived 3 hangings would be set free. As luck would have it, by the 3rd time I tried baking bread, I did begin to get the hang of it, despite my rocky start on the first go-round. I probably shouldn’t have been particularly surprised—when it comes to cooking, I usually read the recipe few times and then just recreate from memory—meaning I usually get 80% of everything—and the dish turns out fine. Not the case in baking—which is more of an “exact science.” Nevertheless, after reading through multiple bread recipes and multiple attempts, you can actually spot patterns and technique. For example, I’ve come to the conclusion that the optimal flour to yeast ratio is 1 cup to 1 teaspoon. If you stick to that ratio, you don’t need to read recipes and can scale up the proportions as much as you want. Also, when it comes to letting the dough rise, recommended times range from 2 to 8+ hours—and again, after experimenting I realized the longer the better (sorta like the classic saying “bigger is better”)—given the longer you let the dough rise, the more air gets inside and the bread tastes less dense, a welcome deviation from my original muffin-like creation. So there, it does look like the ancients were onto something—whether 3 is the magic number or 2 or 4, it can be anyone’s guess—but experience has taught me over and over again that often times you can’t succeed on the first try—you typically don’t get the first job you interview for, you don’t buy the first house you look at, you don’t marry the first person you date, and you don’t succeed the first time you bake bread. If you are one of those—a first time’s the charm person, then go fly a kite~ kidding! I’d love to know your secret so please share.

In the grand scheme of things, my bread baking adventure is really the opposite of a big deal—but here’s the thing—it can be really exciting trying new things. As Jim Rohn says,”your life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by change.” Hopefully this post has been at least a little helpful to make that change a bit easier. In the meantime, I’m changing my choice of beverage—from water to a glass of Zinfandel from Dry Creek valley.