WEBVTT - Second Cup: Avoid pendulum swings

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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 avoid pendulum swings. Consistency tends to lead

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<v Speaker 1>to better outcomes than going to extremes, and it also

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<v Speaker 1>tends to be less stressful. So when something in your

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<v Speaker 1>life feels out of whack, it can be easy to overcorrect.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've had a really busy social season, you may

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<v Speaker 1>be inclined to turn down all social plans for the

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<v Speaker 1>next few weeks. If you are disciplined in January about

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<v Speaker 1>saving money, you may wind up buying everything under the

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<v Speaker 1>sun in February, And if you put in a week

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<v Speaker 1>of really long days, you may find yourself phoning it

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<v Speaker 1>in the next week. The problem is that these over

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<v Speaker 1>corrections are seldom the right solutions either. Having zero social

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<v Speaker 1>plans is the recipe for heading into work Monday feeling

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<v Speaker 1>like the weekend never happened, which is depressing, so you

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<v Speaker 1>overschedule the next weekend and feel out of sorts again.

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<v Speaker 1>Saving money through deprivation doesn't help if you then spend

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<v Speaker 1>everything you saved, and if you slack at work, you

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<v Speaker 1>might need to put in long days the next week

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<v Speaker 1>in order to get caught up. Pendulum swings like these

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<v Speaker 1>can leave you feeling like you are never in the

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<v Speaker 1>right place, even if your average social events per week,

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<v Speaker 1>or spending per month, or sweets per day, or hours

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<v Speaker 1>per week worked, or any other metric seems to be

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<v Speaker 1>exactly what you want. If you are not within the

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<v Speaker 1>range of what's best for you during shorter periods, you

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<v Speaker 1>may end up feeling frazzled. I have certainly seen that

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<v Speaker 1>with sleep. Even during the worst of the baby years,

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<v Speaker 1>my time logs showed that I averaged seven point four

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<v Speaker 1>hours of sleep per day over any longer stretch of time.

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<v Speaker 1>But my time logs also show some awful days of

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<v Speaker 1>being up three times in the night, or finally getting

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<v Speaker 1>a baby down at one am, only to be up

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<v Speaker 1>at five point thirty to catch a plane. I'd nap

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<v Speaker 1>or crash other places in order to hit the average,

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<v Speaker 1>but it wasn't a lot of fun with babies who

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<v Speaker 1>don't sleep well. This is what it is. These days,

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<v Speaker 1>my kids are older and I can be more consistent

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<v Speaker 1>with daily sleep totals. I am still averaging seven point

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<v Speaker 1>four hours per day, but it feels entirely different than

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<v Speaker 1>those pendulum swings. When pendulum swings can be avoided, as

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<v Speaker 1>with most other metrics that don't involve nursing babies, life

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<v Speaker 1>will feel a lot less chaotic. So with any metric

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<v Speaker 1>that matters to you. Spending exercise, hours worked, social plans,

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<v Speaker 1>figure out what feels sustainable long term. Can you really

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<v Speaker 1>bill forty hours per week or is thirty six hours

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<v Speaker 1>more sustainable? Can you actually run twenty eight miles per

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<v Speaker 1>week or is twenty more realistic given your other commitments?

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<v Speaker 1>Will you feel overscheduled if you go out four nights

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<v Speaker 1>a week or disconnected if you're home for seven nights

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<v Speaker 1>a week. Is two hundred dollars per week doable for

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<v Speaker 1>groceries week to week? Or will spending two hundred dollars

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<v Speaker 1>on groceries this week lead you to ring up a

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<v Speaker 1>hefty four hundred dollars bill next week. In any aspect

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<v Speaker 1>of your life where you're feeling off kilter, pay attention

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<v Speaker 1>to the actual time and money you spend week to

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<v Speaker 1>week and figure out the amount that feels about right.

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<v Speaker 1>Then aim to get pretty close to that amount consistently.

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<v Speaker 1>If you do, you will be on track to meet

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<v Speaker 1>your long term goals and you'll also avoid the stress

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<v Speaker 1>and disorder that can come from pendulum swings. Not every

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<v Speaker 1>week will be right at the ideal, of course, but

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<v Speaker 1>you'll know to return to it as soon as you can.

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<v Speaker 1>For instance, if you put in a really long week

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<v Speaker 1>at work, perhaps you take a camp half day the

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<v Speaker 1>next Monday morning, but then work at a normal pace

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<v Speaker 1>the rest of the time. If you overindulge on a

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<v Speaker 1>trip to New Orleans, you don't need to eat salad

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<v Speaker 1>every meal for the next month. Just go back to

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<v Speaker 1>your usual moderate habits. It will all be fine in

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Yes, 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 then 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 dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out

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<v Speaker 1>with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look

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<v Speaker 1>forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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<v Speaker 1>of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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