WEBVTT - Second Cup: Play Tetris with your schedule

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to play tetris with your schedule. Sometimes trying

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<v Speaker 1>to fit everything in can feel frustrating, but if you

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<v Speaker 1>recast it more as a game, you can maybe feel

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<v Speaker 1>a little more excited about it. So this episode is

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<v Speaker 1>first airing in September, which is always a time of

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<v Speaker 1>new schedules. In my family with five kids, somebody is

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<v Speaker 1>often starting a new school. Kids try different activities that

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<v Speaker 1>meet at various times. My sixteen year old will get

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<v Speaker 1>his driver's license soon, but he doesn't have it yet,

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<v Speaker 1>so our number of drivers ismed. I need to try

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<v Speaker 1>to preserve enough time to work. I like to have

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<v Speaker 1>open time on weekends for seasonal family adventures. Everyone needs

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<v Speaker 1>to get enough sleep, me included. This can sometimes feel

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<v Speaker 1>like a lot to fit into one hundred and sixty

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<v Speaker 1>eight hours. Sometimes I get frustrated as I am waiting

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<v Speaker 1>for one particular organization to post their activity schedule so

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<v Speaker 1>I can sign up for a class that a kid

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<v Speaker 1>really wants and that will affect what other activities he

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<v Speaker 1>can sign up for, and in the meantime, I see

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<v Speaker 1>those activities filling up, and well, there are a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of moving parts. But a few years ago I decided

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<v Speaker 1>to view this as something of a game. If you

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<v Speaker 1>are my age or so, you may have spent a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of time playing Tetris as a kid. Blocks in

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<v Speaker 1>various shapes drop from the sky and you try to

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<v Speaker 1>fit them into certain side holes in the right way.

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<v Speaker 1>If you create a full line, it disappears and you

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<v Speaker 1>survive to keep playing. If too many pieces stack awkwardly

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<v Speaker 1>on top of each other, you hit the top of

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<v Speaker 1>the screen and it's game over. I think this is

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<v Speaker 1>a good metaphor for a schedule too. Stuff takes various

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<v Speaker 1>amounts of time to do. There are certain windows of

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<v Speaker 1>time that are open and some that are not. The

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<v Speaker 1>biggest and strangest shapes have to be accounted for first,

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<v Speaker 1>and then you can move other things around to fit.

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<v Speaker 1>I certainly try to think strategically about the Tetris of

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<v Speaker 1>my schedule. How can we schedule things in order to

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<v Speaker 1>leave the most open time for other things, given that

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<v Speaker 1>we are usually up on weekends. Anyway, the nine to

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen soccer session is better than the eleven forty five

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<v Speaker 1>soccer session, as the latter will chop up a weekend day.

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<v Speaker 1>We found a swim program that offers two different options

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<v Speaker 1>Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday, and we could

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<v Speaker 1>select based on another activity that was only offered at

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<v Speaker 1>one time per week. Activities that happen right after school

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<v Speaker 1>and at school are preferable to others because there's only

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<v Speaker 1>one round of driving required, leaving at least one evening open.

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<v Speaker 1>Lets us have a low key family night, or at

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<v Speaker 1>least know we've got a spot for rescheduling lessons that

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<v Speaker 1>inevitably get canceled at some point. Things like my workouts

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<v Speaker 1>are flexible and so can be scheduled at any point,

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<v Speaker 1>but I know they are more likely to happen at

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<v Speaker 1>some points than others. That's one reason we are looking

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<v Speaker 1>into getting a treadmill for cold winter mornings. By thinking

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<v Speaker 1>of the schedule as a game, I guess I'm more

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<v Speaker 1>excited about little wins. It's not just phew, that's done.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like, hey, I just want another round of Tetris.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe no one cares but me. Scratch that, I know

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<v Speaker 1>no one cares but me, But given how thankless family

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<v Speaker 1>scheduling can feel, I will take any positive reinforcement I

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<v Speaker 1>can get in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

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<v Speaker 1>That's b E the number four than Breakfast Pod. You

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<v Speaker 1>can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>at iHeartMedia that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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<v Speaker 1>the letters. Thanks so much. Should I look forward to

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<v Speaker 1>staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.

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