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 about how to deal with those nagging
Speaker 1: tasks that linger on your to do list. For any
Speaker 1: given task, think through the benefits of doing it and
Speaker 1: the costs of not doing it. That can help you
Speaker 1: get motivated to get it done, or you might decide
Speaker 1: it's not worth your time after all. On my other podcast,
Speaker 1: Best of Both Worlds, we received a listener question about
Speaker 1: getting motivated to deal with a nagging task. My co
Speaker 1: host Sarah heart Unger proposed a helpful thought process that
Speaker 1: I am sharing as today's tip. Sarah suggested thinking through
Speaker 1: the benefits of tack cling the to do and then
Speaker 1: the consequences of not doing it, and then considering whether
Speaker 1: or not it is worth it. We can put several
Speaker 1: sorts of nagging tasks through this rubric. Maybe you have
Speaker 1: got a weird spot on your hand and you think
Speaker 1: that maybe you should schedule a dermatologist appointment to get
Speaker 1: it checked out. If you do this task, it will
Speaker 1: take some time and effort to make the appointment, to
Speaker 1: go to the appointment, and then potentially deal with the outcome,
Speaker 1: but you will most likely find out whether the spot
Speaker 1: is just weird or potentially cancerous. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: not doing the task will save you some time and
Speaker 1: potentially money in the near term, depending on your insurance situation.
Speaker 1: But it's not that much time, and you could definitely
Speaker 1: lose that time to wondering and worrying or having some
Speaker 1: worse outcome, in which case the same of time and
Speaker 1: money would not be much consolation. I think in most
Speaker 1: cases people would probably decide to make that appointment, but
Speaker 1: maybe the same rubric will produce a different answer for
Speaker 1: something else. You have a nagging sense that you should
Speaker 1: clean out your attic. What happens? If you do well,
Speaker 1: you will eventually have a clean attic. Maybe we'll find
Speaker 1: some cool stuff that you have completely forgotten about. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, doing the clean out will definitely take
Speaker 1: a big chunk of your discretionary time, which might be
Speaker 1: limited during this phase of your life. Are you planning
Speaker 1: to do something with that clean attic? You could also
Speaker 1: decide to not clean it out If you need to
Speaker 1: move at some point, you would then just have to
Speaker 1: box the stuff up and move it to the next attic.
Speaker 1: Or if we want to be morbid about it. You
Speaker 1: might die with a full attic and then it would
Speaker 1: no longer be your problem. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: right choice is for you, but you can think through
Speaker 1: all the options, which will help you realize that you
Speaker 1: do have options. Many tasks can be done but don't
Speaker 1: absolutely have to be done. We can make choices. So
Speaker 1: the next time you have a nagging task you are
Speaker 1: not looking forward to doing, ask yourself, what if I do?
Speaker 1: What if I don't? This might help you gain clarity
Speaker 1: and maybe help you either do the task or decide
Speaker 1: to let it go. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast Podcasts at I heeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: favorite shows.