Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to improve your defaults. Much of what we
Speaker 1: do in life is routine, which means that small changes
Speaker 1: can make a big difference. Today's tip was inspired by
Speaker 1: my recent September Reset project. During the month of September,
Speaker 1: I had lots of people track their time and then
Speaker 1: try using some of my favorite time management strategies in
Speaker 1: their lives. They then reflected on the results. Some of
Speaker 1: those strategies involved planning in new things like adventures and
Speaker 1: evening intentions an open space. One of the challenges people
Speaker 1: faced was overcoming the inertia of doing the same things
Speaker 1: over and over again. And don't get me wrong, routines
Speaker 1: can be great. They can make good choices automatic, but
Speaker 1: some defaults aren't so positive. For instance, a lot of
Speaker 1: people have the default that once they get their kids
Speaker 1: in bed at night, or once they finish their chores,
Speaker 1: they sit down and watch something. If it's a favorite
Speaker 1: show that was planned for and anticipated, great, If it's
Speaker 1: just screen time because that's the default, well does that
Speaker 1: have to be the default? Maybe the default could be
Speaker 1: twenty minutes of hobby time and then screens, or twenty
Speaker 1: minutes of chatting or reading and then screens. Even if
Speaker 1: one party definitely wants to zone out on the couch,
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean everyone needs to. You might set your
Speaker 1: default that you sit with your partner on the couch,
Speaker 1: but you read with headphones in are there, but being
Speaker 1: together doesn't require that your default be something that you
Speaker 1: are not excited about. Or maybe your default is that
Speaker 1: you lie in bed scrolling for a while before it's
Speaker 1: time for sleep. That is an easy default, but maybe
Speaker 1: something else relaxing could take its place. Could you lie
Speaker 1: in bed and look at magazines or look at pretty
Speaker 1: coffee table books ordered from the library. That's not so
Speaker 1: different from looking at Instagram. But you will change your default,
Speaker 1: and maybe over time you can start making your default
Speaker 1: reading real books. In any case, whenever you find yourself
Speaker 1: doing something automatically, you might note why is this a
Speaker 1: positive default? Is it a default you are happy about,
Speaker 1: or is it a default that you might be able
Speaker 1: to upgrade with minor tweaks. Sometimes life forces a change
Speaker 1: to our defaults. Maybe you move or get a new job,
Speaker 1: or start working in the office instead of remotely. Maybe
Speaker 1: your kids change schools, or you have a new childcare arrangement,
Speaker 1: or they start playing different sports. In my case, I
Speaker 1: kept getting bumped out of a particular social media app.
Speaker 1: I really have no idea why, but maybe this was
Speaker 1: a good thing. Perhaps I shouldn't reset my password and
Speaker 1: take it as a sign to change my default of
Speaker 1: scrolling there. When I am sitting at my youngest child's
Speaker 1: room waiting for him to fall asleep, well that is
Speaker 1: another default I'd like to change. But he will grow
Speaker 1: up eventually. How about you? What are your defaults? Other
Speaker 1: ways to upgrade them? I'd love to hear what you
Speaker 1: come up with. You can always reach me at Laura
Speaker 1: at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.