1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 2: Good Morning. 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:21,240 Speaker 1: tip is that your head is a lousy office. Don't 5 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: try to remember to do's and where tos and how tos. Instead, 6 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: get tasks, scheduled commitments, and other information out of your 7 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: head and into something much more reliable that will help 8 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: keep you on track and keep your mind free for 9 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: other things. Today's tip comes from a recent article in 10 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: The New York Times about the use of professional productivity 11 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: tools in our personal lives. If you have ever sent 12 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: out a doodle poll to find a date for your 13 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: book club, used a spreadsheet to coordinate who's bringing what 14 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: to Thanksgiving dinner, or if you email your best friend 15 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: as often as your boss, you understand the concept. I 16 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: actually think it's wise to bring the same intentionality to 17 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: our personal time that we bring to our work, and 18 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: if the tools of your professional life can help you 19 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: do that, why not use them. In the article, productivity 20 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: guru David Allen is credited with pointing out that your 21 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: head is a lousy office, though apparently he used a 22 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: more colorful word than lousy. In our professional and personal lives. 23 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:40,759 Speaker 1: It is smart to remember that humans have a lot 24 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: of trouble remembering things. We mean well, but we're busy, 25 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: we get distracted. Rather than tax our working memory, it's 26 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: better to keep track of appointments, to dos, priorities and 27 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: so forth somewhere else that I can consult when we 28 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: need to. If you are listening to before breakfast, you 29 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,119 Speaker 1: are probably more inclined than the average person to put 30 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: your scheduled commitments in a paper or digital calendar. That's 31 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: good for work, and it's good for personal commitments like 32 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: a date with your partner or your spin class. However, 33 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: most of us have responsibilities that are not particularly time bound. 34 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: We have tasks we need to remember. 35 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 2: True productivity means getting these vague thoughts out of your head, 36 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 2: which remember, is a lowsy office, and somewhere actionable. For 37 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 2: most of us, that means creating a variety of lists. 38 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 2: I make a weekly priority list every Friday about the 39 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 2: main things that need to get done that week. I 40 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 2: make daily to do lists, where I pull items off 41 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 2: the weekly list based on what else I have going on. 42 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,639 Speaker 2: I also keep a Friday punch list of little tasks 43 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 2: that I need to tackle at some point, things like 44 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 2: making a hair appointment or ordering a gift. I add 45 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 2: to this list as I think of these things, and 46 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 2: then I aim to do them all in one fell 47 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 2: swoop at a low energy time. Hence why I call 48 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 2: it a Friday punch list. That's a pretty good number 49 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 2: of lists, but honestly most of us should use still more. 50 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 2: There's the grocery list, which hopefully means you don't spend 51 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty dollars at the store and still 52 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 2: come home with nothing for dinner. There may be lists 53 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 2: of desires. I like the idea of a list of 54 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 2: one hundred dreams of things you might want to do someday. 55 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 2: You could put restaurants you'd like to try, or places 56 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 2: to visit, or concerts to experience on there. You probably 57 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 2: also want some good system for nudging yourself to think 58 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 2: about things at the right time. It turns out that 59 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 2: June is often too late to be thinking about summer plans, 60 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 2: at least if your kids want to go to popular camps, 61 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 2: or if you enjoy popular vacation destinations. So maybe you 62 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 2: can set a calendar alarm for a date in January 63 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 2: to start thinking of summer. You could set a date 64 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 2: in mid November to think through holiday gifts. If your 65 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 2: school district releases the calendar at a certain time of year, 66 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 2: you could set an alarm for that time to start 67 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 2: putting in PTO requests. The point here is that you 68 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 2: aren't going to remember to do this on your own. 69 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 2: You might think, how could I not remember to start 70 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 2: planning the summer? But life gets busy. You'll have a 71 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 2: huge work project in January, or everyone will get sick, 72 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 2: and it will just slip your mind yet again. You 73 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 2: might not hit some deadlines. You might mean to remember 74 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 2: your sister's birthday, but you know you forgot it last year. 75 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: Do you really trust your brain to remember this year, 76 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: even though it's failed before. Your brain is a lousy office. 77 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: The support staff is massively subpar. You need systems that 78 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: actually work for you. So get it all out of 79 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: your head and you'll be much better off. If you're 80 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: interested in the New York Times article I mentioned, you 81 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: can find it at ny Times dot com by searching 82 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: on its title when did our personal lives get so professional? 83 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: In addition to David Allen, I am cited in the 84 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: article too. I'd love to hear what you think about 85 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: using professional productivity tools and your personal life. You can 86 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In 87 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's 88 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,039 Speaker 1: to making the loose of our tech. 89 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 2: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can 90 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 2: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just 91 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 2: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before 92 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 2: Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then breakfast pod. 93 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 2: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast 94 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 2: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled 95 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 2: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I 96 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 2: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a 97 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 98 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:51,280 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 99 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 2: favorite shows.