WEBVTT - Turn a tough day around

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.680
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:14.840
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.520
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is that you can turn a tough day around.

0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.160
<v Speaker 1>When bad circumstances start to pile up, you can rescue

0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:28.920
<v Speaker 1>the narrative with a conscious reset. With any luck, the

0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:34.440
<v Speaker 1>day could end up pretty decent. Over the past few weeks,

0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.000
<v Speaker 1>I've been talking about how to build a more resilient schedule.

0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.440
<v Speaker 1>True time management masters deal with life as it is,

0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.879
<v Speaker 1>not as we wish it to be. The reality of

0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:51.199
<v Speaker 1>life is that some days are just tough, you know

0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.920
<v Speaker 1>the kind. Maybe you are in a bad mood and

0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.640
<v Speaker 1>so everything seems harder, or maybe you started out feeling

0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.040
<v Speaker 1>fine but life has heaped all sorts of misery upon you.

0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.520
<v Speaker 1>It's going to be hard to rescue a day when

0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:07.720
<v Speaker 1>you are stuck in the emergency room for hours. But

0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:12.440
<v Speaker 1>for most normal, lousy days, making a conscious decision to

0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:18.080
<v Speaker 1>change the day's trajectory can be quite profound. That's because

0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.880
<v Speaker 1>humans love to create stories to make sense of our world.

0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.960
<v Speaker 1>One of the most common story formats is to list

0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.840
<v Speaker 1>three points of evidence and then draw a conclusion based

0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:34.920
<v Speaker 1>on that. Think about the children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,

0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.560
<v Speaker 1>no good, very Bad Day. He starts listing his troubles,

0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.320
<v Speaker 1>getting the middle seat in the carpool, no dessert at lunch,

0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.360
<v Speaker 1>the shoe store being out of the sneakers he wants.

0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.640
<v Speaker 1>He draws the conclusion that he is going to have

0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:54.600
<v Speaker 1>to move to Australia. Each additional woe just adds to

0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.160
<v Speaker 1>the case. We laugh as we read the story, but

0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.360
<v Speaker 1>how often do we do the exact same thing. My

0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:04.480
<v Speaker 1>kid missed the bus, so I drove her to school,

0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:05.960
<v Speaker 1>and I was late to a meeting, and then learned

0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.720
<v Speaker 1>we've lost a competitive bid proposal, and I spilled ketchup

0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.600
<v Speaker 1>on my favorite blouse. And then we draw the conclusion

0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:16.559
<v Speaker 1>that this is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.880
<v Speaker 1>And then once we have our narrative, we look for

0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:24.320
<v Speaker 1>more evidence to support it. And guess what, if you

0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.920
<v Speaker 1>are hunting for evidence, you will find it. A normal

0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.880
<v Speaker 1>evening will suddenly offer up all sorts of misery as

0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.480
<v Speaker 1>a result. But we can actually draw whatever conclusions we want.

0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.480
<v Speaker 1>So the best way to turn around a tough day

0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:46.720
<v Speaker 1>is to stop and change the story. First, make a

0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.840
<v Speaker 1>point of putting some good stuff into the rest of

0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:53.440
<v Speaker 1>the day. Plan to meet a friend for dinner after work,

0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.720
<v Speaker 1>or have your family order from your favorite restaurant. Hunt

0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:01.560
<v Speaker 1>for a favorite funny podcast to listen to during your commute,

0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.640
<v Speaker 1>or put a quick playlist together of your favorite songs.

0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.959
<v Speaker 1>Text your spouse about watching a favorite movie after the

0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.120
<v Speaker 1>kids go to bed, or sharing a drink on the porch,

0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.640
<v Speaker 1>or set up a call with a far flung friend

0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:21.440
<v Speaker 1>or relative who always energizes you. Once you know you

0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:25.119
<v Speaker 1>have three positive points of evidence coming up, you can

0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:29.919
<v Speaker 1>promptly switch the narrative. This is going to be an

0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:34.320
<v Speaker 1>awesome day. Even if you remember stubbing your toe in

0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.280
<v Speaker 1>the morning. You can say, well, hey, I've got this

0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.080
<v Speaker 1>amazing e book that I'll get to read in the

0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.040
<v Speaker 1>bathtub tonight. Or maybe you and the kids are going

0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.200
<v Speaker 1>to go for an evening bike ride on a local trail,

0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.720
<v Speaker 1>or those spicy tuna rolls will show up and make

0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:52.480
<v Speaker 1>everything better. Then just keep repeating how awesome a day

0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:54.480
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be with this good stuff coming up,

0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.120
<v Speaker 1>and with this as your narrative, you will start to

0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:02.040
<v Speaker 1>find evidence to support that. You will note that your

0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.160
<v Speaker 1>boss stopped by to praise how you handle that tricky

0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.640
<v Speaker 1>question in last week's meeting, You'll read a thank you

0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.800
<v Speaker 1>email from a colleague and really soak it in. You'll

0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.159
<v Speaker 1>notice a lovely spot of flowers as you walk to

0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:21.440
<v Speaker 1>your car. That is how you turn a tough day around.

0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.640
<v Speaker 1>We can consciously put in good stuff. We can start

0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:31.239
<v Speaker 1>a different story, and then we can start to see

0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:36.880
<v Speaker 1>more supporting evidence. It is really as simple as that.

0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:43.760
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:53.960
<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.240
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.919
<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.360
<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:09.400
<v Speaker 1>That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.080
<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.720
<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is

0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.560
<v Speaker 1>spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:27.640
<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.880
<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my

0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.840
<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:36.960
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.