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 transitions take time. It is generally not
Speaker 1: possible to move instantaneously from one thing to another, so
Speaker 1: best to figure out how long transitions will take and
Speaker 1: plan for that reality. So I have to say I
Speaker 1: am generally pretty swift at transitions. I can pivot between
Speaker 1: different professional tasks or work in personal tasks quite quickly.
Speaker 1: This is what makes my life possible. But even so,
Speaker 1: things don't take zero time. I can stop work at
Speaker 1: twelve twenty pm, change clothes, and be up with my
Speaker 1: exercise equipment for my virtual trainer to FaceTime me at
Speaker 1: twelve thirty. We end by one oh five, but I
Speaker 1: am seldom back at my desk until one fifteen. My
Speaker 1: thirty five minute training session, which is at home, still
Speaker 1: took fifty minutes. With transitions. Because I track my time,
Speaker 1: I can see these things. I can see that while
Speaker 1: driving to church takes just seven to eight minutes, getting
Speaker 1: in the car and parking on the other side doesn't
Speaker 1: take zero minutes. So it's best to leave at six
Speaker 1: forty five pm if I want to be in my
Speaker 1: seat for choir warm ups at seven pm. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't think about these things. I
Speaker 1: mean probably because they haven't tracked their time for ten
Speaker 1: straight years, and so they are mystified why when they
Speaker 1: walk out the door for something ten minutes away, at
Speaker 1: ten minutes before the appointed time, they still show up late. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't need to track your time for a decade,
Speaker 1: but doing so for a few days will help re
Speaker 1: yield these transition times that need to be accounted for.
Speaker 1: Once you start to see them, you can start building
Speaker 1: in the full time cost to your schedule. Going to
Speaker 1: the gym may turn out not to take an hour,
Speaker 1: Perhaps it takes an hour and fifteen minutes to both
Speaker 1: drive there, check in, do your forty five minute workout,
Speaker 1: towel off, and get back in your car and go home.
Speaker 1: This explains why your spouse is always irritated with you
Speaker 1: when you claim you are making a quick trip to
Speaker 1: the gym and it'll take less than an hour and
Speaker 1: then you are back later. Then this would imply now
Speaker 1: to be sure, there is no reason to fear transitions,
Speaker 1: and there is also no reason to build them up
Speaker 1: to the point where they seem undoable. Yes, it takes
Speaker 1: time to get five kids in a car for a
Speaker 1: road trip, but it doesn't take an infinite amount of time.
Speaker 1: It takes time to get the bags for one sport
Speaker 1: and get the kid in the car and get there,
Speaker 1: and time to get another kid's equipment for something else.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that you can't do two activities
Speaker 1: in a day. You don't need to limit your life
Speaker 1: to spend less time in transitions. You just need to
Speaker 1: be focused. For instance, I have a mental checklist for
Speaker 1: getting my youngest two kids off to school on the mornings.
Speaker 1: This is my responsibility. I dress the five year old.
Speaker 1: I check that the ten year old is wearing something
Speaker 1: that fits and doesn't have holes. I make sure they
Speaker 1: have both eaten breakfast and they have both packed lunches.
Speaker 1: During the winter, I check for coats, and I make
Speaker 1: sure these coats are buy their shoes in the mudroom
Speaker 1: so they can take two minutes to put on shoes
Speaker 1: and coats. But this is only eight things. If the
Speaker 1: mental checklist of things are all checked off, then we
Speaker 1: are good. So there's no reason to overthink transitions. We
Speaker 1: just need to acknowledge that they happen and build the
Speaker 1: time into our schedules. If we are smart and efficient,
Speaker 1: the transition times don't need to be ridiculous, but they
Speaker 1: are seldom zero, so best to plan for that. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: 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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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.