WEBVTT - Your head is a lousy office

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is that your head is a lousy office. Don't

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<v Speaker 1>try to remember to do's and where tos and how tos. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>get tasks, scheduled commitments, and other information out of your

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<v Speaker 1>head and into something much more reliable that will help

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<v Speaker 1>keep you on track and keep your mind free for

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<v Speaker 1>other things. Today's tip comes from a recent article in

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<v Speaker 1>The New York Times about the use of professional productivity

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<v Speaker 1>tools in our personal lives. If you have ever sent

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<v Speaker 1>out a doodle poll to find a date for your

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<v Speaker 1>book club, used a spreadsheet to coordinate who's bringing what

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<v Speaker 1>to Thanksgiving dinner, or if you email your best friend

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<v Speaker 1>as often as your boss, you understand the concept. I

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<v Speaker 1>actually think it's wise to bring the same intentionality to

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<v Speaker 1>our personal time that we bring to our work, and

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<v Speaker 1>if the tools of your professional life can help you

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<v Speaker 1>do that, why not use them. In the article, productivity

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<v Speaker 1>guru David Allen is credited with pointing out that your

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<v Speaker 1>head is a lousy office, though apparently he used a

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<v Speaker 1>more colorful word than lousy. In our professional and personal lives.

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<v Speaker 1>It is smart to remember that humans have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of trouble remembering things. We mean well, but we're busy,

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<v Speaker 1>we get distracted. Rather than tax our working memory, it's

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<v Speaker 1>better to keep track of appointments, to dos, priorities and

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<v Speaker 1>so forth somewhere else that I can consult when we

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<v Speaker 1>need to. If you are listening to before breakfast, you

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<v Speaker 1>are probably more inclined than the average person to put

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<v Speaker 1>your scheduled commitments in a paper or digital calendar. That's

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<v Speaker 1>good for work, and it's good for personal commitments like

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<v Speaker 1>a date with your partner or your spin class. However,

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<v Speaker 1>most of us have responsibilities that are not particularly time bound.

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<v Speaker 1>We have tasks we need to remember.

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<v Speaker 2>True productivity means getting these vague thoughts out of your head,

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<v Speaker 2>which remember, is a lowsy office, and somewhere actionable. For

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<v Speaker 2>most of us, that means creating a variety of lists.

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<v Speaker 2>I make a weekly priority list every Friday about the

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<v Speaker 2>main things that need to get done that week. I

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<v Speaker 2>make daily to do lists, where I pull items off

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<v Speaker 2>the weekly list based on what else I have going on.

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<v Speaker 2>I also keep a Friday punch list of little tasks

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<v Speaker 2>that I need to tackle at some point, things like

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<v Speaker 2>making a hair appointment or ordering a gift. I add

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<v Speaker 2>to this list as I think of these things, and

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<v Speaker 2>then I aim to do them all in one fell

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<v Speaker 2>swoop at a low energy time. Hence why I call

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<v Speaker 2>it a Friday punch list. That's a pretty good number

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<v Speaker 2>of lists, but honestly most of us should use still more.

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<v Speaker 2>There's the grocery list, which hopefully means you don't spend

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<v Speaker 2>two hundred and fifty dollars at the store and still

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<v Speaker 2>come home with nothing for dinner. There may be lists

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<v Speaker 2>of desires. I like the idea of a list of

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred dreams of things you might want to do someday.

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<v Speaker 2>You could put restaurants you'd like to try, or places

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<v Speaker 2>to visit, or concerts to experience on there. You probably

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<v Speaker 2>also want some good system for nudging yourself to think

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<v Speaker 2>about things at the right time. It turns out that

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<v Speaker 2>June is often too late to be thinking about summer plans,

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<v Speaker 2>at least if your kids want to go to popular camps,

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<v Speaker 2>or if you enjoy popular vacation destinations. So maybe you

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<v Speaker 2>can set a calendar alarm for a date in January

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<v Speaker 2>to start thinking of summer. You could set a date

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<v Speaker 2>in mid November to think through holiday gifts. If your

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<v Speaker 2>school district releases the calendar at a certain time of year,

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<v Speaker 2>you could set an alarm for that time to start

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<v Speaker 2>putting in PTO requests. The point here is that you

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<v Speaker 2>aren't going to remember to do this on your own.

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<v Speaker 2>You might think, how could I not remember to start

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<v Speaker 2>planning the summer? But life gets busy. You'll have a

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<v Speaker 2>huge work project in January, or everyone will get sick,

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<v Speaker 2>and it will just slip your mind yet again. You

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<v Speaker 2>might not hit some deadlines. You might mean to remember

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<v Speaker 2>your sister's birthday, but you know you forgot it last year.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you really trust your brain to remember this year,

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<v Speaker 1>even though it's failed before. Your brain is a lousy office.

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<v Speaker 1>The support staff is massively subpar. You need systems that

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<v Speaker 1>actually work for you. So get it all out of

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<v Speaker 1>your head and you'll be much better off. If you're

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<v Speaker 1>interested in the New York Times article I mentioned, you

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<v Speaker 1>can find it at ny Times dot com by searching

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<v Speaker 1>on its title when did our personal lives get so professional?

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<v Speaker 1>In addition to David Allen, I am cited in the

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<v Speaker 1>article too. I'd love to hear what you think about

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<v Speaker 1>using professional productivity tools and your personal life. You can

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<v Speaker 1>reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the loose of our tech.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can

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<v Speaker 2>send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just

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<v Speaker 2>connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before

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<v Speaker 2>Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then breakfast pod.

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<v Speaker 2>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 2>podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

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<v Speaker 2>out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I

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<v Speaker 2>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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<v Speaker 2>production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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<v Speaker 2>iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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<v Speaker 2>favorite shows.