WEBVTT - Life administration is real work

0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:09.320
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:16.040
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:20.840
<v Speaker 1>tip is that life administration is real work that takes

0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:25.440
<v Speaker 1>real time, So a smart schedule takes that into account

0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:31.120
<v Speaker 1>and builds it in. Lately, I've been hearing from a

0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.320
<v Speaker 1>lot of people who confess that they are falling behind

0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:39.199
<v Speaker 1>on their personal to dos. Some things are quick. It

0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.480
<v Speaker 1>is easy enough to use that app from your hair

0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.360
<v Speaker 1>salon to schedule an appointment for Saturday, but some things

0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.959
<v Speaker 1>are more involved. I recently registered my five year old

0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.640
<v Speaker 1>for kindergarten next year. This involved tracking down his birth certificate,

0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.240
<v Speaker 1>a recent utility bill, my real estate tax bill, and

0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.800
<v Speaker 1>his immunisation record, plus filling out a lot of different

0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:07.880
<v Speaker 1>information online. People sometimes wonder why these things just aren't

0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:13.040
<v Speaker 1>getting done. Sometimes people assume that chaos is the inevitable

0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.800
<v Speaker 1>result of having a lot going on, but I don't

0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:21.080
<v Speaker 1>think that's true. I think what's generally happening is that

0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.800
<v Speaker 1>people aren't scheduling any sort of time to do these things.

0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.080
<v Speaker 1>People figure they'll get to them at some point, or

0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.120
<v Speaker 1>they'll fit around the edges of everything else. But when

0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:34.920
<v Speaker 1>some people can take a chunk of time at work

0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:36.800
<v Speaker 1>when they're sitting at a desk and have a phone

0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.000
<v Speaker 1>and such. But if your work involves doing medical procedures

0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.959
<v Speaker 1>or driving a bus or installing refrigerators, that might not

0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:50.120
<v Speaker 1>really be feasible. Perhaps this personal work can be done

0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.120
<v Speaker 1>at home, but sometimes when people are home they are

0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.520
<v Speaker 1>taking care of small children. It is a cruel truth

0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:00.320
<v Speaker 1>that it is hard to focus on registered during a

0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.280
<v Speaker 1>five year old for kindergarten when the five year old

0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.240
<v Speaker 1>is asking you to get him a snack every three minutes.

0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.960
<v Speaker 1>To make progress on your personal to dos, you need

0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:15.880
<v Speaker 1>to recognize that life administration is real work and it

0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:20.280
<v Speaker 1>takes real time. As with all work, it is more

0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:25.120
<v Speaker 1>efficient when you aren't constantly being interrupted, so you need

0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:29.640
<v Speaker 1>a regular time to do it. For many people, this

0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.560
<v Speaker 1>might mean a slot during the week and on the weekend.

0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:35.960
<v Speaker 1>You could block out thirty minutes after the kids go

0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.000
<v Speaker 1>to bed on Wednesdays and then a one hour block

0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.920
<v Speaker 1>on Saturday while you and your spouse trade off kid coverage.

0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.720
<v Speaker 1>Or perhaps it's thirty minutes Tuesday night and thirty minutes

0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:51.680
<v Speaker 1>Thursday night. You want to designate a time so it's

0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:53.799
<v Speaker 1>not always an option and you feel guilty when you

0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:56.840
<v Speaker 1>aren't doing it, But when you get to that time,

0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.320
<v Speaker 1>you've managed your energy and you know it's time to

0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.680
<v Speaker 1>get going. This will work for most things, but some

0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:09.760
<v Speaker 1>personal tasks can only be done during business hours. For instance,

0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.040
<v Speaker 1>if you have a billing issue with your dentist that

0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:15.079
<v Speaker 1>needs to get resolved, you might need to call between

0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.680
<v Speaker 1>eight and five when they are open. If that's the case,

0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.360
<v Speaker 1>then maybe designate one window during the work week. If

0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:25.320
<v Speaker 1>you've got a work from home day, maybe you take

0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.440
<v Speaker 1>your lunch break and do it. Or perhaps if you

0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.520
<v Speaker 1>start work at nine, you could use the window from

0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.440
<v Speaker 1>eight to nine when a lot of places are open.

0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.360
<v Speaker 1>Or if you work until four pm but your day

0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.200
<v Speaker 1>care is open until five thirty, you might be able

0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:42.600
<v Speaker 1>to use the four p m To five pm window

0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.200
<v Speaker 1>once every week or two. Keep a running list of

0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.640
<v Speaker 1>personal to dos, and then split the list between things

0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.440
<v Speaker 1>that are more flexible and things that have to be

0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.880
<v Speaker 1>done during business hours. But don't just assume that these

0:03:56.920 --> 0:04:02.840
<v Speaker 1>things will happen at some point. Life administration is real work.

0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:08.440
<v Speaker 1>It takes real time. Even once I had all my documentation,

0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:12.800
<v Speaker 1>registering my kid for kindergarten still took thirty minutes. It's

0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.400
<v Speaker 1>not a ton of time, but it is not zero either,

0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:22.479
<v Speaker 1>so best to build these things in in the meantime.

0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.719
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:38.320
<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.600
<v Speaker 1>If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:52.359
<v Speaker 1>me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:56.640
<v Speaker 1>is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.760
<v Speaker 1>please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:02.040
<v Speaker 1>listen to your favorite shows.