Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to build a reputation for
Speaker 1: being reliable even if life isn't conspiring to help you
Speaker 1: out in that regard. I know many people listening to
Speaker 1: this 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, A hundred sixty eight Hours, was being
Speaker 1: included on a list of the best time management books
Speaker 1: of all time. Wow, very exciting. Literally the next minute
Speaker 1: I was on the phone with our school systems bus dispatcher.
Speaker 1: She told me that the school bus was not going
Speaker 1: to be able to get down our street due to
Speaker 1: some work that was suddenly being done, so somebody would
Speaker 1: need to go stand on a street corner a ways
Speaker 1: a way to get my children. I was curious how
Speaker 1: many other authors on that time management book list we're
Speaker 1: dealing with such issues at that moment. That said, I
Speaker 1: do believe that even if there are parts of life
Speaker 1: you can't control, there are also parts you can, and
Speaker 1: it is possible to build a reputation for being reliable
Speaker 1: even if you are dealing with far more complicated circumstances
Speaker 1: than someone who's major worry is whether he'll make it
Speaker 1: home in time for Monday night football. Anyone dealing with
Speaker 1: major life complications should do a few things. First, take
Speaker 1: care of yourself. Most of us do better when we
Speaker 1: are well rested, well fed, and moving our physical bodies
Speaker 1: in whatever ways we're capable of. Surround yourself with positive
Speaker 1: people who can keep you fully charged and in a
Speaker 1: solution seeking mindset. Second, become aware of your time, and
Speaker 1: even more importantly, of your energy. From my conversations with
Speaker 1: but with chronic health issues, I've learned that there are
Speaker 1: 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 in say, 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 planned 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 do 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 sev the way done. This
Speaker 1: turned out to matter when we wound up spending the
Speaker 1: entire latter half of Monday in the emergency room, with
Speaker 1: follow up to doctor visits then required on Tuesday. All
Speaker 1: is fine, thankfully, but it's nice in these circumstances not
Speaker 1: to add call and explain why I need an extension
Speaker 1: to the to do list. Fourth, well, I think of
Speaker 1: myself as a positive person. I assume things will go wrong,
Speaker 1: and because I make this assumption, I make plans to
Speaker 1: address most possibilities, at least the ones I can think about.
Speaker 1: Even though all my children are in school at least
Speaker 1: part time now, we still have full time childcare. That way,
Speaker 1: if my husband and I are both nowhere near home
Speaker 1: and a sudden ice storm means school has dismissed three
Speaker 1: hours early, someone is on call to deal with it,
Speaker 1: and someone with a chronic health issue might plan to
Speaker 1: be at an event. But if that becomes impossible because
Speaker 1: of changing conditions, well, she's already trained someone and arranged
Speaker 1: for that person to be able to cover it if needed,
Speaker 1: with her providing virtual support if that's possible. Finally, you
Speaker 1: might recalibrate what it means to be reliable. I found
Speaker 1: that when you generally do what you say you're going
Speaker 1: to do, people are incredibly understanding in the rare circumstances
Speaker 1: when you can't. I know, if I had called my
Speaker 1: editor and asked for an extension after the emergency room incident,
Speaker 1: it would have been fine. They built in space too.
Speaker 1: Those of us who value reliability and worry that we
Speaker 1: might be perceived as unreliable might be surprised to learn
Speaker 1: how many people don't do what they say they're going
Speaker 1: to do. A physician recently mentioned that her office is
Speaker 1: no show rate was about fifteen percent, even with calls
Speaker 1: and texts and email reminders of people don't show up
Speaker 1: for an appointment that they personally made. And when I
Speaker 1: researched this because I was surprised by that number, I
Speaker 1: learned that that's actually pretty good, and some specialties the
Speaker 1: no show rate is thirty And I'm sure that many
Speaker 1: of these people have really good reasons for not showing up,
Speaker 1: but I'm also sure that others probably don't. If you're
Speaker 1: trying hard and doing good work when you can. Most
Speaker 1: people will understand the few times when you can't, and
Speaker 1: over time you can make choices to create a life
Speaker 1: where you work with people who do understand. Look for
Speaker 1: organizations with managers who have real lives. Look for organizations
Speaker 1: that don't just talk about flexibility, but actually have people
Speaker 1: working at different times and different places. These places are
Speaker 1: more likely to value talented employees who just need a
Speaker 1: little extra time and a little extra space to do
Speaker 1: amazing things, so they are the ones who deserve you.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app Apple podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.