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 that when you are trying out a new
Speaker 1: habit or routine, develop a spirit of iteration. Don't assume
Speaker 1: that if things go wrong you have to quit. It
Speaker 1: may be that with a few tweaks or a new approach,
Speaker 1: your routine might work after all. Today's tip comes from
Speaker 1: Sarah Hartunger, who is the co host on my other podcast,
Speaker 1: Best of Both Worlds. When Sarah was a guest on
Speaker 1: a long form episode of this podcast, she suggested that
Speaker 1: new habits should be approached with a spirit of iteration.
Speaker 1: Don't assume that a habit will work perfectly the first
Speaker 1: time around. You may need to experiment to find the
Speaker 1: best way to make it work for you. So, for example,
Speaker 1: maybe you have read somewhere that family meals are supposed
Speaker 1: to be good for kids. So you decide your family
Speaker 1: is going to have dinner together every night. You cook
Speaker 1: a nice dinner on Monday, which your kids promptly reject
Speaker 1: and demand grapes and string cheese. Instead, you could give
Speaker 1: up and announce that family dinner isn't for you. But
Speaker 1: maybe you can approach this situation with a spirit of iteration.
Speaker 1: Maybe family dinner doesn't mean that everyone has the same dinner.
Speaker 1: Maybe you serve everything family style and people choose what
Speaker 1: they want and skip what they don't. Or maybe you
Speaker 1: cook for you and your appreciative partner and the kid
Speaker 1: with the adventurous taste buds and let the others eat
Speaker 1: buttered noodles and sliced apples every night. Even if your
Speaker 1: plates look different, you are still eating together. Or you
Speaker 1: can adopt my mantra that three times a week is
Speaker 1: a habit. You eat together three times a week, understanding
Speaker 1: that family meals don't always have to be dinner. You
Speaker 1: can have pizza on Friday night, which everyone likes, plus
Speaker 1: pancakes Sunday morning, and dinner Wednesday night out at that
Speaker 1: restaurant that has the buffet everyone can tolerate. You are
Speaker 1: still eating together, and maybe this routine can work for
Speaker 1: you after all. Of course, you may discover some habits
Speaker 1: don't actually work in real life, and that's fine, but
Speaker 1: it's wise to invest a little time in trial and
Speaker 1: error before you write things off altogether. Having a spirit
Speaker 1: of iteration also means noticing when a habit that has
Speaker 1: been great for you isn't any more. The Monday morning
Speaker 1: run with your neighbor that has been an anchor of
Speaker 1: your week for years may not be so great. When
Speaker 1: you get a new job with a thirty minute commute.
Speaker 1: After three Mondays in a row, scrambling to get out
Speaker 1: the door on time, you may realize that what is
Speaker 1: supposed to be a grounding, enjoyable start to the week
Speaker 1: just isn't anymore, So you need to adjust. Maybe you
Speaker 1: start your run fifteen minutes earlier, or run a shorter route,
Speaker 1: or maybe you run Sunday mornings instead of Mondays, or
Speaker 1: maybe you decide to have a quick coffee Monday mornings instead.
Speaker 1: Just remember that a habit that worked for a while
Speaker 1: can change when necessary. You can iterate tweaks to habits
Speaker 1: and routines may be especially needed after changes to your schedule,
Speaker 1: like if you move or your kids go to a
Speaker 1: new school with a different start time. But even if
Speaker 1: your schedule stays the same, routines may need to adjust
Speaker 1: if your priorities change. We probably aren't the same people
Speaker 1: we were five years ago, and our routines can evolve too.
Speaker 1: In general, developing a spirit of iteration means you are
Speaker 1: expecting your life to be dynamic, not static. You are
Speaker 1: curious and open to change. Ultimately, that means things are
Speaker 1: more likely to eventually work. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.