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 talk on Thursday to plan on Friday
Speaker 1: before you do your weekly planning. You can have a
Speaker 1: conversation with anyone whose schedule will affect yours that will
Speaker 1: allow you to plan more strategically. Longtime listeners know that
Speaker 1: one of my core time management rules is to plan
Speaker 1: on Fridays. I think every busy person needs a designated
Speaker 1: weekly planning time when they think about the upcoming week
Speaker 1: and think about what they need and want to do.
Speaker 1: Fridays tend to be a good time for this, as
Speaker 1: they are generally slower. You can think about the upcoming
Speaker 1: week and if you want, and then you can hit
Speaker 1: the ground Monday ready to go. But life tends to
Speaker 1: be a team sport, and so one of the first
Speaker 1: questions people ask me about this is when they should
Speaker 1: talk to other people about their schedules. If they plan
Speaker 1: on Friday, do they need to call their spouses during
Speaker 1: this time, chat with their managers during this time, text
Speaker 1: with their teens. If you want, you can do all
Speaker 1: of these things, and I often do wind up reaching
Speaker 1: out to people as part of my planning. For instance,
Speaker 1: I might see that I have time to run our
Speaker 1: walk on a particular morning, so I'll text a friend
Speaker 1: about getting together. But a quick text isn't going to
Speaker 1: get someone's entire schedule sent to you if you need that.
Speaker 1: For instance, let's say your teenager has a job but
Speaker 1: can't drive himself to his workplace yet. If you are
Speaker 1: going to be responsible for some of these rides, then
Speaker 1: you will need to know your child's work schedule as
Speaker 1: you plan your week. Or perhaps your spouse sometimes has
Speaker 1: to cover an evening shift, or would like to go
Speaker 1: help a relative with a project on the weekend. These
Speaker 1: things will all affect your schedule, and of course, if
Speaker 1: you'd like to do things as a family during the
Speaker 1: course of the week, you will need to talk about
Speaker 1: what those things are. You can train people to send
Speaker 1: you their schedules or to upload their work schedules to
Speaker 1: a family calendar, and if that works, amazing, But I
Speaker 1: also know that might be expecting a bit much of
Speaker 1: someone who is, say, fifteen years old. I am also
Speaker 1: taking a wild guess that if you are listening to
Speaker 1: before breakfast, you might be more adept at keeping schedules
Speaker 1: straight than other people in your family, which might include
Speaker 1: your spouse. He meant to tell you about the weekend
Speaker 1: meet up with Grandma, but he forgot, and your manager
Speaker 1: is something else entirely. She probably isn't going to sit
Speaker 1: down and spell out everything for you that might affect
Speaker 1: your workflow over the next week, so you can get
Speaker 1: in the habit of asking people about their schedules. If
Speaker 1: you will be planning on Friday, then try to have
Speaker 1: a conversation on Thursday with anyone whose schedule will affect yours.
Speaker 1: Ask your manager if she says anything big happening next week,
Speaker 1: or if there are deadlines or new projects you should
Speaker 1: be aware of. Talk with your spouse about his or
Speaker 1: her work schedule and personal commitments. If you have family
Speaker 1: dinner on Thursdays, talk with your kids about what they
Speaker 1: have going on next week and what you should know about.
Speaker 1: Hopefully this will nudge the thought of, oh, yeah, my
Speaker 1: manager wanted me to cover an extra shift next Saturday.
Speaker 1: These conversations don't have to be long or drawn out.
Speaker 1: You are just trying to get through the next seven days.
Speaker 1: But once you know about any big things going on
Speaker 1: in other people's schedules, you can plan more strategically, and
Speaker 1: you can also feel fine drawing a boundary around what
Speaker 1: you will and won't do. If someone forgets to tell
Speaker 1: you about something when you specifically asked about this, then
Speaker 1: that person may need to come up with their own solutions.
Speaker 1: You help when given the chance to help. If not
Speaker 1: given the chance, well that might be on them. I
Speaker 1: send my family's schedule around on Friday after I've created it,
Speaker 1: and it often does prompt some back and forth. Still,
Speaker 1: at that point, maybe someone sees something else that needs
Speaker 1: to be added or taken off, and at that point
Speaker 1: it is still fine. It's the last minute stuff that's
Speaker 1: a lot harder. But having a conversation on Thursday before
Speaker 1: you plan on Friday can help keep everything running on time.
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
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