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 that a good week starts on Friday. By
Speaker 1: taking a little time on Friday to think through the
Speaker 1: upcoming week, you can feel more tranquil and get a
Speaker 1: lot more done. About a year ago, I published a
Speaker 1: book called Tranquility by Tuesday, which was about nine time
Speaker 1: management rules that can help anyone calm the chaos and
Speaker 1: make time for what matters. Rule number two has long
Speaker 1: been one of my favorites. Plan on Fridays. Indeed, if
Speaker 1: anyone ever asks me, how do you do it? Quite
Speaker 1: the question, I tell them about my Friday planning sessions.
Speaker 1: Here's how that works. At some point on Friday, I
Speaker 1: pull out my calendar as a reference tool, and I
Speaker 1: create a page in my planner for the upcoming week.
Speaker 1: I list my professional priorities for the week on the
Speaker 1: left hand side of the page, and my personal priorities
Speaker 1: for the week on the right side. Those are things
Speaker 1: that I'd like to see happen with my family, friends,
Speaker 1: or for myself. Sometimes these priorities are already on the calendar.
Speaker 1: For instance, the week I recorded this one personal priority
Speaker 1: was my dentist appointment. Not exciting, to be sure, but
Speaker 1: I had finally made myself make the appointment, so I
Speaker 1: wanted to notice it and celebrate that I was making
Speaker 1: this healthy choice. I would also be running with a friend,
Speaker 1: and so I thought about how long we should go
Speaker 1: and what our goals might be for that run. I
Speaker 1: would be going to a back to school night for
Speaker 1: one of my kids. I wanted to be sure to
Speaker 1: ask that particular child what I should pay attention to
Speaker 1: at her school. This was all pretty straightforward. I'd see
Speaker 1: the calendar entry and note the priority. But sometimes these
Speaker 1: priorities are not on the calendar. For instance, on the
Speaker 1: work front, i am working on the proposal for another book.
Speaker 1: There's no particular deadline for this, so I'm simply noting
Speaker 1: that I want to devote time to it. By listing
Speaker 1: it as a priority, I know that I will make
Speaker 1: time for it. I also figure out what I need
Speaker 1: to do and any logistical challenges that need to be solved.
Speaker 1: For instance, it became clear that between having the kids
Speaker 1: out of school for a day and a babysitter on
Speaker 1: vacation for a few days, and then my husband being
Speaker 1: gone for a while too. My work hours were going
Speaker 1: to be compressed, so I knew I needed to carve
Speaker 1: out some time on Sunday when my youngest was watching
Speaker 1: a movie to get started on things that would not
Speaker 1: fit in the rest of the week. This helped me
Speaker 1: feel a little less frantic and guaranteed that if I
Speaker 1: was going to work on Sunday that work had a
Speaker 1: I wouldn't just be randomly checking email and doing anything
Speaker 1: that seemed to be flashing brightest. That unhappy state of
Speaker 1: affairs leads to not relaxing, but not getting anything important
Speaker 1: done either. I teach these tranquility by Tuesday rules and
Speaker 1: particularly this one to plan on Fridays, to others as well,
Speaker 1: because it truly does make life feel more in control.
Speaker 1: With planning, the image I like to use is that
Speaker 1: of a three ring circus. Yes, we all have a
Speaker 1: lot going on in our lives, but the ring master
Speaker 1: knows where everyone is supposed to be, and when the
Speaker 1: ring master knows how to deal with things going slightly wrong,
Speaker 1: like the tigers taking longer to get into place than anticipated,
Speaker 1: no problem. Send out the clown to do his second
Speaker 1: funny act that you don't do if you don't need it,
Speaker 1: but you do. If you do. To have this sense
Speaker 1: of control, you need to step outside your life for
Speaker 1: just a little bit to look at what is imp
Speaker 1: important and then what is happening. The more you do this,
Speaker 1: the more likely that things that are important are already
Speaker 1: starting to appear on your calendar as priorities. During your
Speaker 1: past week's Friday planning, you've thought about what you'd like
Speaker 1: to do in the future. You've planned it in That
Speaker 1: makes the weekly planning even easier. These days, this planning
Speaker 1: doesn't take me much time. My personal planning takes twenty
Speaker 1: minutes or so. Planning out the family schedule takes another
Speaker 1: twenty minutes. That's not nothing, but in less than forty
Speaker 1: five minutes, I know I will not be living in chaos.
Speaker 1: Even with five active kids in four different schools, to
Speaker 1: working parents and a host of things I enjoyed doing
Speaker 1: in my personal life, it all fits. And that is
Speaker 1: because a good week starts on Friday. So today, see
Speaker 1: if you might take some time to try this tranquility
Speaker 1: by Tuesday rule. Carve out twenty to thirty minutes, ask
Speaker 1: what is most important for you to accomplish this week
Speaker 1: professionally and personally, ask what you need to do, do
Speaker 1: you know, and everything will happen. Have you solved any
Speaker 1: logistical challenges? Make sure you have something to look forward
Speaker 1: to the first week or two. It might be challenging
Speaker 1: to look at the whole week at a time, but
Speaker 1: doing so allows you to plan life more holistically and
Speaker 1: not get caught up in daily crises. And it will
Speaker 1: get easier over the next few weeks as life becomes
Speaker 1: more like a well run three ring circus. A good
Speaker 1: week starts on Friday, so why not give this Friday
Speaker 1: planning a shot In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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