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 that today is a great day to start
Speaker 1: planning something big. Whether you actually do the big thing
Speaker 1: or not, coming up with a concrete plan for a
Speaker 1: big life project will likely have positive effects in your life.
Speaker 1: In my new book, Big Time, I devote a chapter
Speaker 1: to the idea of dreaming big Planning small. The idea
Speaker 1: is that even very big things like listening to all
Speaker 1: the works of Mozart, are doable if you break them
Speaker 1: down into steps that are small enough to fit into
Speaker 1: your life, and then you just keep going over a
Speaker 1: long enough period of time. That's what I'm doing this
Speaker 1: year to listen to all of Mozart, doing about thirty
Speaker 1: minutes of listening each day while driving around in the car.
Speaker 1: I am on track to finish by the end of
Speaker 1: the year. I start this chapter about dreaming big and
Speaker 1: Planning small with the wonderful story of the Dekou family
Speaker 1: from Washington State. This mom and dad and their two
Speaker 1: kids set a goal a few years ago to visit
Speaker 1: all of the national parks. There are sixty three of them.
Speaker 1: From Acadia to Zion. Now, the family could not easily
Speaker 1: quit the rest of their life and drive around in
Speaker 1: an RV for years at a time, so what they
Speaker 1: did instead was rent out their house over the summers
Speaker 1: and travel between the parks. Then they created detailed spreadsheets
Speaker 1: of how to stay near the parks and visit affordably.
Speaker 1: They did this over several years, and I am happy
Speaker 1: to report that they have now been fifty seven of
Speaker 1: sixty three, not bad at all. You might not want
Speaker 1: to visit all the national parks or listen to all
Speaker 1: of Mootzart, though perhaps you do. But perhaps there is
Speaker 1: something else big in your life that you would like
Speaker 1: to try. Maybe you never did the experience of backpacking
Speaker 1: through Europe as a young person and you want to
Speaker 1: try a middle aged person's version of it. Maybe you
Speaker 1: want to do a long, multi stage hike or bike ride.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to read something big, all the works
Speaker 1: of Dickens. Perhaps maybe you want to see a game
Speaker 1: in all of the Major League Baseball parks. Whatever it is,
Speaker 1: why not do a little planning today of how you
Speaker 1: might undertake such a project. Today is as good a
Speaker 1: day as any to do this. I am guessing you
Speaker 1: have at least twenty minutes today that you could repurpose
Speaker 1: from something else like scrolling to do some research. How
Speaker 1: long would this project take or could it take? What
Speaker 1: kind of steps would be involved? What sort of logistics
Speaker 1: would you need to figure out? Now? You may or
Speaker 1: may not ever do the thing. It might be cool,
Speaker 1: or you might decide not to. But doing the research
Speaker 1: and planning something big will have good effects in your life,
Speaker 1: regardless of the ultimate outcomes. For starters, it is fun
Speaker 1: to dream and plan about the future. I know, I
Speaker 1: like thinking about trips I could take or other projects
Speaker 1: that might be exciting to do. Some point, looking at
Speaker 1: hotels in Europe is more fun than looking at most
Speaker 1: content online. And even if you don't do all of
Speaker 1: the project, you might decide to do certain parts of it.
Speaker 1: For instance, you might decide to visit two of the
Speaker 1: lesser known national parks that aren't too far from you,
Speaker 1: or you might decide to go see a baseball game
Speaker 1: in an away park and plan a weekend trip for
Speaker 1: the time when the team closest to you is playing there.
Speaker 1: Now you have a doable adventure planned that you can
Speaker 1: look forward to over the next few weeks or months.
Speaker 1: Today is a good day to start planning something big.
Speaker 1: You might make the thing happen, or you might make
Speaker 1: part of it happen, or you might just have some
Speaker 1: more enjoyable leisure time today. But whatever the outcome, these
Speaker 1: are all good things. In the meantime. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.