Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to train into the net. True time management
Speaker 1: masters create a resilient schedule, one in which life can
Speaker 1: keep moving forward even when things don't go as planned.
Speaker 1: In my forthcoming book Big Time, A Simple Path to
Speaker 1: Time Abundance, I talk about becoming the ring master of
Speaker 1: your life. When people say my life is a circus,
Speaker 1: they usually mean it's chaotic, But this is a slander
Speaker 1: against circuses. An actual circus is incredibly well organized. Performers
Speaker 1: do their tricks precisely, often executing things in sea within
Speaker 1: a fraction of a second. There is no question where
Speaker 1: anyone is supposed to be or when the logistics are incredible.
Speaker 1: We should aspire for our lives to be like a circus.
Speaker 1: But there's another part of this metaphor, which is that
Speaker 1: acrobats and other performers usually perform over a net. The
Speaker 1: idea is that if something goes awry, the outcome isn't terrible. Now,
Speaker 1: to my mind, a net is a net, But when
Speaker 1: I have spoken with professional acrobats, I've learned that is
Speaker 1: not the case. The net needs to be precisely where
Speaker 1: they expect it to be. They also train into the net,
Speaker 1: figuring out how to land in the net so that
Speaker 1: they don't get injured. In other words, the net isn't
Speaker 1: an afterthought at all. It is a very carefully considered
Speaker 1: part of the program. I think this is wise, and
Speaker 1: yet contrast this with how many people think about their schedules.
Speaker 1: Maybe we think casually about what might go wrong, but
Speaker 1: we don't really think this through. We just trust that
Speaker 1: things will go right, and most of the time they
Speaker 1: probably will. But I think this assumption is the source
Speaker 1: of a lot of chaos in people's lives, or leads
Speaker 1: to people thinking certain things just aren't possible. For instance,
Speaker 1: have you thought of a backup option if your car
Speaker 1: won't start and you need to get somewhere. Have you
Speaker 1: thought about who will pick up your kids if you're
Speaker 1: stuck in a traffic jam. Have you thought about what
Speaker 1: you'll do if the power goes out in your house
Speaker 1: in winter, or if your Wi Fi goes down right
Speaker 1: before a major virtual presentation, if your spouse's flight home
Speaker 1: is canceled, what are you going to do If you've
Speaker 1: got young kids and you really need to be somewhere else.
Speaker 1: Are all of your backup plans readily available? And does
Speaker 1: everyone in your life know how and when to switch
Speaker 1: to Plan B now? I will admit that thinking through
Speaker 1: all the bad things that can happen can make one
Speaker 1: seem like a pessimist, but I like to think of
Speaker 1: it as more rational optimism. You certainly hope things will
Speaker 1: go well, just as a professional acrobat has absolutely no
Speaker 1: intention of missing a normal trick in a performance. But
Speaker 1: you just don't know. Maybe the guy on the other
Speaker 1: trapeze who is supposed to catch you has a sudden
Speaker 1: fainting spell. Best to have a net and train into
Speaker 1: the net so you can go on with the show
Speaker 1: in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.