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 about how to build a reputation for being
Speaker 1: reliable even if life isn't conspiring to help you out
Speaker 1: in that regard. I know many people listening to this
Speaker 1: podcast pride themselves on doing what they say they'll do.
Speaker 1: I also know that this is easier for some people
Speaker 1: than others, in ways that a lot of the productivity
Speaker 1: literature out there doesn't always consider. I recently got a
Speaker 1: note from a listener who asked what I suggested for
Speaker 1: people with unpredictable or chronic medical issues. I know that
Speaker 1: I have come off as unreliable at times due to
Speaker 1: my chronic pain, and I don't like being perceived that way,
Speaker 1: our listener writes, I agree, it's incredibly frustrating to be
Speaker 1: seen as unreliable when it's really not your fault. I
Speaker 1: know I'm fortunate not to be dealing with these specific
Speaker 1: issues of a chronic medical condition, but I do have
Speaker 1: four children, and when you are a caregiver for other people,
Speaker 1: there are so many more logistics that must be dealt
Speaker 1: with that sometimes could make you seem unreliable as well,
Speaker 1: and this is one reason I sometimes get frustrated with
Speaker 1: productivity literature written by people who aren't in that position
Speaker 1: and have never even considered what would happen if a
Speaker 1: babysitter calls in sick, or the nurse calls because your
Speaker 1: kid needs to be picked up at school. Last year,
Speaker 1: I had the experience of getting a note that one
Speaker 1: of my books, one hundred and sixty eight Hours, was
Speaker 1: being included on a list of the best time management
Speaker 1: books of all time. Wow. Very exciting. Literally the next
Speaker 1: minute I was on the phone with our school system's
Speaker 1: bus dispatcher. She told me that the school bus was
Speaker 1: not going to be able to get down our street
Speaker 1: due to some work that was suddenly being done, so
Speaker 1: somebody would need to go stand on a street corner
Speaker 1: A ways a way to go my children. I was
Speaker 1: curious how many other authors on that time management book
Speaker 1: list we're dealing with such issues at that moment. That said,
Speaker 1: I do believe that even if there are parts of
Speaker 1: life you can't control, there are also parts you can,
Speaker 1: and it is possible to build a reputation for being
Speaker 1: reliable even if you are dealing with far more complicated
Speaker 1: circumstances than someone who's major worry is whether he'll make
Speaker 1: it home in time for Monday night football. Anyone dealing
Speaker 1: with major life complications should do a few things. First,
Speaker 1: take care of yourself. Most of us do better when
Speaker 1: we are well rested, well fed, and moving our physical
Speaker 1: bodies in whatever ways we're capable of. Surround yourself with
Speaker 1: positive people who can keep you fully charged and in
Speaker 1: a solution seeking mindset. Second, become aware of your time,
Speaker 1: and even more importantly, of your energy. From my conversations
Speaker 1: with people with chronic health issues, I've learned that there
Speaker 1: are often good days and bad days, and more than that,
Speaker 1: even good hours and bad hours, And if there's any
Speaker 1: sort of pattern you can detect, this is helpful for
Speaker 1: planning your life. In my case, I've certainly found patterns
Speaker 1: with my kids' schedules. I know that we have more
Speaker 1: snow days and sick days in January than insay October,
Speaker 1: so I can try to plan big life projects around that.
Speaker 1: If you know you generally have a reasonable amount of
Speaker 1: energy between say, eight and nine am, you'll want to
Speaker 1: plan important matters for that window. You can leave routine
Speaker 1: stuff for lower energy times. Third, get in the habit
Speaker 1: of working ahead and leaving extra space. The extra space
Speaker 1: can absorb whatever goes wrong, since, as anyone with a
Speaker 1: complicated life knows, stuff can definitely go wrong. If an
Speaker 1: assignment is due Friday, I aim to be done by
Speaker 1: Tuesday or Wednesday. That way, if I lose a work
Speaker 1: day early in the week, I still have time to
Speaker 1: make it up, or maybe I'm already done and then
Speaker 1: I'm still on track. If I lose a day later
Speaker 1: in the week, particularly for longer projects, you can often
Speaker 1: work quite a ways ahead. Book deadlines might be assigned
Speaker 1: a year or so out, so I plan my work
Speaker 1: to be done several months before the deadline. That way,
Speaker 1: anything that happens in the days or weeks before the
Speaker 1: deadline isn't an issue. I also work ahead by taking
Speaker 1: advantage of any found time when things are going well
Speaker 1: and I'm feeling good and nothing's wrong with the kids.
Speaker 1: So if the kids are all happy or doing something
Speaker 1: on the weekend, I'll work then, knowing that I might
Speaker 1: lose time during the week. This recently came in handy
Speaker 1: when I had a major assignment due on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1: I'd blocked out time on Monday and Tuesday to deal
Speaker 1: with it. But some space opened up on the weekend
Speaker 1: when my husband was doing something with all the kids.
Speaker 1: I managed to get about seventy five percent of the
Speaker 1: way done. This turned out to matter when we wound
Speaker 1: up spending the entire latter half of Monday in the
Speaker 1: emergency room, with follow up actor visits then required on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: All is fine, thankfully, but it's nice in these circumstances
Speaker 1: not to add call and explain why I need an
Speaker 1: extension to the to do list. Fourth, while I think
Speaker 1: of myself as a positive person, I assume things will
Speaker 1: go wrong, and because I make this assumption, I make
Speaker 1: plans to address most possibilities, at least the ones I
Speaker 1: can think about. Even though all my children are in
Speaker 1: school at least part time now, we still have full
Speaker 1: time childcare. That way, if my husband and I are
Speaker 1: both nowhere near home and a sudden ice storm means
Speaker 1: school is dismissed three hours early, someone is on call
Speaker 1: to deal with it, and someone with a chronic health
Speaker 1: issue might plan to be at an event. But if
Speaker 1: that becomes impossible because of changing conditions, well, she's already
Speaker 1: trained someone and arrange for that person to be able
Speaker 1: to cover it if needed, with her providing virtual support
Speaker 1: if that's possible. Finally, you might recalibrate what it means
Speaker 1: to be reliable that when you generally do what you
Speaker 1: say you're going to do, people are incredibly understanding in
Speaker 1: the rare circumstances when you can't. I know, if I
Speaker 1: had called my editor and asked for an extension after
Speaker 1: the emergency room incident, it would have been fine. They'd
Speaker 1: built in space too. Those of us who value reliability
Speaker 1: and worry that we might be perceived as unreliable might
Speaker 1: be surprised to learn how many people don't do what
Speaker 1: they say they're going to do. A physician recently mentioned
Speaker 1: that her office's no show rate was about fifteen percent,
Speaker 1: even with calls and texts and email reminders. Fifteen percent
Speaker 1: of people don't show up for an appointment that they
Speaker 1: personally made. And when I researched this, because I was
Speaker 1: surprised by that number, I learned that that's actually pretty good.
Speaker 1: In some specialties, the no show rate is thirty percent.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that many of these people have really
Speaker 1: good reasons for not showing up. But I'm also sure
Speaker 1: that others probably don't. If you're trying hard and doing
Speaker 1: good work when you can, most people will understand the
Speaker 1: few times when you can't, and over time you can
Speaker 1: make choices to create a life where you work with
Speaker 1: people who do understand. Look for organizations with managers who
Speaker 1: have real lives. Look for organizations that don't just talk
Speaker 1: about flexibility, but actually have people working at different times
Speaker 1: and different places. These places are more likely to value
Speaker 1: talented employees who just need a little extra time and
Speaker 1: a little extra space to do amazing things, so they
Speaker 1: are the ones who deserve you. In the meantime, This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.