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 map out a busy season. When you've
Speaker 1: got a lot going on for a month or more,
Speaker 1: it can be helpful to broaden your time horizon a bit.
Speaker 1: That way, you will feel more in control even if
Speaker 1: life feels complex. So this episode is airing as we
Speaker 1: are going into the holiday season. For many folks, December
Speaker 1: features a lot of extras, extra parties, extra travel, extra activities,
Speaker 1: and responsibilities. When life is busy, we need to simultaneously
Speaker 1: do two things. One is focusing on the immediate day.
Speaker 1: Do you know what's happening today? Do you have a
Speaker 1: plan for today? Can you make it through today? You'll
Speaker 1: get to rest up again before tomorrow, so you don't
Speaker 1: need to worry too much about that. But I also
Speaker 1: find it as helpful to have a rough idea of
Speaker 1: the upcoming landscape. The unknown is scarier than the known,
Speaker 1: even if the known is complex. If you were hurtling
Speaker 1: on a raft down a river through a cave, would
Speaker 1: you rather have a flashlight or not? Personally, I would
Speaker 1: prefer to have the flashlight better to see those rocks
Speaker 1: and stalactites than not. So here is a strategy. Use
Speaker 1: a paper calendar to keep track of anything extra you
Speaker 1: need to think about, anything time specific for the upcoming month,
Speaker 1: or so you don't need anything fancy, print out a
Speaker 1: calendar page showing the month of December, or maybe some
Speaker 1: nonprofit has sent you a calendar for the year as
Speaker 1: a freebie. Rip out the December page and put it
Speaker 1: somewhere you can see. Take a few minutes and really
Speaker 1: think this through, because in my experience sometimes the extras
Speaker 1: haven't made it on too. Let's say your daily work calendar.
Speaker 1: Do you have any kid performances, any work holiday events,
Speaker 1: any community celebrations. Are there holiday festivities you'd like to attend?
Speaker 1: When are you traveling or when are you hosting people?
Speaker 1: Would you like to go to any religious observances during
Speaker 1: this time? Now, obviously you can do all this electronically,
Speaker 1: but I think more of us are visual than like
Speaker 1: to admit, and by seeing all of it in front
Speaker 1: of you, it is possible to get a good sense
Speaker 1: of the rhythm of the upcoming month. I did this
Speaker 1: and found that while some weekends were pretty full, others
Speaker 1: actually weren't. There are four weekends in December, and there
Speaker 1: were several weekend days with no extra holiday events. Yet
Speaker 1: things didn't look nearly as intimidating when I looked several
Speaker 1: weeks ahead. I sometimes do this for the end of
Speaker 1: May and the beginning of June, and sometimes for the
Speaker 1: start of the school year, as those tend to be
Speaker 1: busy times for me. Maybe you have some other time
Speaker 1: in your life that is generally more full than other times.
Speaker 1: If so, simultaneously taking things day by day and getting
Speaker 1: a good sense of the upcoming landscape can help you
Speaker 1: pace yourself. You might see that a weekend day is
Speaker 1: open and you can decide to purposefully not put something
Speaker 1: there to give yourself a breather. Or you might see
Speaker 1: that you have a break between work trips and it's
Speaker 1: going to be possible to get together with a friend.
Speaker 1: But if you don't have your flashlight, you probably won't
Speaker 1: see this. Looking forward helps us approach time with more
Speaker 1: of a sense of calm. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to before breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.