Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is for the folks who are big on
Speaker 1: organizing things. When you are considering starting something new, put
Speaker 1: a toe in the water and see how it feels.
Speaker 1: Trying out something in a small way can provide insight
Speaker 1: into whether you'd like to pursue it in a bigger way.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people are building back their
Speaker 1: routines these days after a long time of having our
Speaker 1: old ways of life suspended. In this make up for
Speaker 1: lost time frame of mind, we often get really ambitious.
Speaker 1: It can be fun to imagine, let's say, forming a
Speaker 1: supper club with three other couples, with a different couple
Speaker 1: hosting everyone for dinner in their home each month, getting
Speaker 1: to see friends every month, and hosting a lot of
Speaker 1: dinner parties sounds great, so why not get it on
Speaker 1: the books? And certainly it could be amazing. But if
Speaker 1: you have never done a supper club before, and particularly
Speaker 1: not with these folks, it might also prove to be
Speaker 1: cumbersome to coordinate everyone's schedules. Do you need to cancel
Speaker 1: your November and December gatherings for the holidays, and what
Speaker 1: about the summer when people's schedules tend to be different,
Speaker 1: what about dietary considerations? You may have just sign yourself
Speaker 1: up for dealing with a lot of logistics, and when
Speaker 1: things peter out because you didn't do it in the summer,
Speaker 1: and then one of those couples seems to travel a
Speaker 1: lot in September and can't be nailed down, you might
Speaker 1: feel like you failed. So instead, why not just put
Speaker 1: a toe in the water, invite those three couples to
Speaker 1: dinner at your home this month and enjoy it. If
Speaker 1: someone suggests that it would be fun to do it again,
Speaker 1: encourage that idea. You could certainly float the supper club
Speaker 1: concept or suggests putting two months on the calendar to
Speaker 1: see how it goes, but you don't necessarily need to
Speaker 1: formalize it forever at this point. Just see how it
Speaker 1: feels and go from there. Or maybe you've been thinking
Speaker 1: about how nice it would be to have a running
Speaker 1: buddy before you invite a friend to run with you
Speaker 1: every Tuesday at five am from now until the end
Speaker 1: of time, why not invite her to run with you
Speaker 1: this Tuesday and try it out. Do you enjoy the
Speaker 1: time together, do you run at about the same pace.
Speaker 1: Does the time work for you both and you have
Speaker 1: similar attitudes about punctuality. Plan the run as a one
Speaker 1: off event, enjoy it as such, and if you want
Speaker 1: to do it again, do it the next week. After
Speaker 1: a few Tuesday at five runs, you can decide to
Speaker 1: always run together. Well, probably not always if Tuesday is
Speaker 1: Christmas or one of you was in Australia, but a
Speaker 1: lot of Tuesdays. However, if you realize that five fift
Speaker 1: feels too early to run, or your friend is a
Speaker 1: lot faster than you, you can just do the runs occasionally.
Speaker 1: No need to commit to multi year plans in advance.
Speaker 1: Whatever the group a bridge club, a book club, a
Speaker 1: play group, try planning a single gathering and seeing how
Speaker 1: it goes now to be sure. I am a huge
Speaker 1: fan of recurring gatherings. People who do either friends regularly
Speaker 1: are absolutely the ones who have a standing date for
Speaker 1: an early Tuesday run or who always get together for
Speaker 1: supper on the first Friday of the month. Recurring gatherings
Speaker 1: ensure that we get together with people we care about
Speaker 1: more frequently and with a lot less tedious planning, but
Speaker 1: you can't always predict the chemistry ahead of time, so
Speaker 1: before you invest in creating a long term commitment, give
Speaker 1: it a try a time or two first to see
Speaker 1: whether it's actually something you want to do every week
Speaker 1: or every month. By putting a toe in the water,
Speaker 1: you can get a feel for whether the recurring activity
Speaker 1: would live up to your hopes. If it will wonderful,
Speaker 1: plan away, and if it may not, well, just enjoy
Speaker 1: it occasionally and seek out other waters where you may
Speaker 1: want to dip your toes in the meantime. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
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