1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: tip is to check in weekly. If you are trying 4 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,479 Speaker 1: to hold yourself more accountable for something, checking in weekly 5 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: is a good cadence to allow for ups and downs, 6 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: but to still keep yourself on track. So, as you 7 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: might imagine, I am fascinated by time. Certain aspects of 8 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 1: time are rooted in the natural world, days, for instance, 9 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:50,279 Speaker 1: and years. Other units of time are more human designed. 10 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: Think the seven day week. One could imagine the cycle 11 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: of life as we live at repeating every six days 12 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: or eight days or whatever. But in most of the 13 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,839 Speaker 1: cultures where you might be listening to this podcast, seven 14 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: days is deeply ingrained. Look at seven days and you 15 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: have a pretty good picture of someone's life. Look at 16 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: one day and you'll have to guess was it a Tuesday? 17 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: Was it a Saturday? What's normal about this day? What isn't? 18 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 1: But a week shows both anyway, I find a week 19 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: is a good unit of time for evaluating lots of things. 20 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,960 Speaker 1: So if you are trying to hold yourself accountable for anything, 21 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: designating a weekly check in time is likely to keep 22 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: you on track. This is true for a few reasons. One, 23 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: you will remember it, which is not true of things 24 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: that happen less often than weekly. Until a few years ago, 25 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: our local recycling pickup was every two weeks, and it 26 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: was shockingly hard to rememb remember it was it this week? 27 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: Was it last week? But if something happens every Friday, 28 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: you come to associate it with Friday and you don't 29 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: forget to do it. Second, looking at a week allows 30 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: for natural ups and downs. Let's say you're trying to 31 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 1: hold yourself accountable for working on an application for graduate school. 32 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: If you check in daily, it is quite possible that 33 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: you wouldn't have worked on it on Monday because work 34 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: got incredibly busy. But maybe you've carved out time Tuesday 35 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: night and Thursday afternoon to work on it. Rather than 36 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,920 Speaker 1: think that you have failed when you don't do something 37 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: every single day, a week gives you the chance to 38 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: see overall progress past that, though we tend to lose steam. 39 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: If you checked in once a month, you might drift 40 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: off and not really be able to quickly get back 41 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,919 Speaker 1: in the game. I plan my upcoming weeks on either 42 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: the Thursday or Friday, and as part of that, I 43 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: check in on how I'm doing on my goals. Did 44 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: I stick with my daily intentions? Did I take steps 45 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,799 Speaker 1: toward my bigger goals. I can then also look forward 46 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: to the next week and plan in priorities related to 47 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,920 Speaker 1: those goals. I know as I plan them in that 48 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: I will evaluate at the end of the week if 49 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: I did them. This provides a lot of accountability. I 50 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: also check in with a few accountability partners each week. 51 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: We state what we did over the past week and 52 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: what we plan to do. A weekly rhythm isn't overwhelming, 53 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: but it is frequent enough that we know what each 54 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: person is focusing on, and we can point out if 55 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: things keep getting bumped forward. If there is something you 56 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: are trying to hold yourself or anyone else accountable for. 57 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: You might also try designating a time weekly to do this. 58 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: Now we can go overboard with this. I am not 59 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: a huge fan of weekly meetings that exist just to exist. 60 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,919 Speaker 1: They still need to be well planned, but plenty of 61 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: managers swear by fifteen to thirty minute one on ones 62 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: with all direct reports weekly just as a way to 63 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: keep on top of any problems and let the person 64 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: know that there is a time for sure when they 65 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: will have their manager's attention that can head off a 66 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: lot of crises. A week may be a human invented 67 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 1: form of time, but it is a very useful one indeed. 68 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and 69 00:04:51,560 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for 70 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, 71 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. 72 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts 73 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 74 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.