Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to make sure you don't say yes
Speaker 1: to things you are not excited about just because you
Speaker 1: happen to be available. If you are available, you can
Speaker 1: engineer something exciting into your life. Don't settle for a
Speaker 1: five or a six when you can make an eight,
Speaker 1: a nine, or maybe even a ten happen. As I
Speaker 1: have talked with people about how they spend their time,
Speaker 1: I have realized something interesting about making plans. For the
Speaker 1: most part, when people are asked to do something, they
Speaker 1: look to see if they are free. Then if the
Speaker 1: thing sounds okay, they will generally say yes. The tendency
Speaker 1: is to compare the thing on offer to nothing, and
Speaker 1: in general, something reasonable does sound better than nothing. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing, nothing isn't the only option out there.
Speaker 1: With a little initiative, you could engineer something really cool
Speaker 1: into your life. At the same time, I like to
Speaker 1: think of all this using a ten point scale. There
Speaker 1: are the ho hum but okay things, the fives and sixes.
Speaker 1: There are the things that are pretty fun, the sevens
Speaker 1: and the eights and then there are the really awesome ones,
Speaker 1: the nines, and the tens. If you spend a few
Speaker 1: minutes thinking about it, you can probably figure out what
Speaker 1: falls in the categories of eights, nines, and tens for you.
Speaker 1: You know what these things are for your life, So
Speaker 1: rather than settle for a five or a six, why
Speaker 1: not try to use that same amount of time to
Speaker 1: get to at least a nine. For instance, maybe you
Speaker 1: and your spouse are invited to attend a nonprofit fundraising
Speaker 1: dinner in a nearby town. You will start to consider
Speaker 1: making a night of it, staying at the hotel where
Speaker 1: the event is held. You'll need a babysitter and such,
Speaker 1: and yes, you know this organization's fundraising events tend to
Speaker 1: be kind of boring, but you are available, and it's
Speaker 1: something you could do, and it's a reason to go
Speaker 1: and get away. And if you are thinking this, stop
Speaker 1: right there, donate the amount you would have donated to
Speaker 1: the nonprofit, and then use that special night with your
Speaker 1: spouse for stuff you would really love, like going to
Speaker 1: an outdoor concert or eating at a favorite restaurant with
Speaker 1: just the two of you, or meeting up with friends
Speaker 1: who live in that town. And then staying over All
Speaker 1: of these take the same amount of time and similar
Speaker 1: amounts of cash, but you will really enjoy yourself during them,
Speaker 1: full stop big when honestly, I wish people would use
Speaker 1: this mindset more for work too. We have a tendency
Speaker 1: to say yes to meetings if we are invited, even
Speaker 1: if we are not sure we'd contribute much, or even
Speaker 1: that the meetings need to happen. Of course, you might think, well,
Speaker 1: this is my job, so I do need to do it.
Speaker 1: But do you Maybe the meeting is only a five
Speaker 1: or so in terms of your particular expertise, you could
Speaker 1: use that same hour to work on a project that
Speaker 1: you'd rate as a nine or a ten. Why not
Speaker 1: consider doing that instead? Your employer will probably benefit from
Speaker 1: your excitement. Same if you are looking for your next project,
Speaker 1: you could say yes to what comes over the transom.
Speaker 1: You could also put the same effort into calling contacts,
Speaker 1: working your network and finding something amazing. Ambitious people can
Speaker 1: almost always engineer some eights into their lives if they try,
Speaker 1: often some nines too, maybe even tens. So when you
Speaker 1: are thinking about a five or a six, know that
Speaker 1: you are not comparing this with nothing. You are comparing
Speaker 1: it with something that could be utterly amazing. If you
Speaker 1: will get off your chair to make it happen, you
Speaker 1: can find something better. You just have to try. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart
Speaker 1: media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit
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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Yeah