Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to mark your calendar. If there is
Speaker 1: something you might potentially want to do in the future,
Speaker 1: write it down for the appropriate date. That vastly increases
Speaker 1: the chances that you think about it when you want
Speaker 1: to think about it. I am sure we have all
Speaker 1: had the experience of thinking about something that would be
Speaker 1: fun and then completely forgetting about it until the time
Speaker 1: has come and gone. Almost every year, I have the
Speaker 1: thought that it would be fun to go to a
Speaker 1: college basketball game, and then next thing I know, it
Speaker 1: is late March, and the reality of March madness is
Speaker 1: that most teams are no law you're playing. My husband
Speaker 1: recently sent me an email titled are that linked to
Speaker 1: a Brad Paisley concert that was in the Philadelphia area
Speaker 1: on an upcoming night. Brad Paisley is one of his
Speaker 1: favorite performers, and I'm sure the tour schedule has been
Speaker 1: available for months, but no one put that date on
Speaker 1: the calendar. And now there are other commitments that would
Speaker 1: be difficult to move. So it goes nothing tragic, of course,
Speaker 1: but it does leave you kicking yourself sometimes. So here
Speaker 1: is a better approach. Whenever you come across anything you
Speaker 1: might like to do. Mark your calendar. If you keep
Speaker 1: a paper calendar and don't have it with you, send
Speaker 1: an email to yourself. That will work as long as
Speaker 1: you generally process your primary inbox. In any case, do
Speaker 1: something to make sure you will put it wherever you
Speaker 1: put times. Now, you should be careful to indicate that
Speaker 1: this thing you are marking on the calendar is not
Speaker 1: actually booked unless you actually have tickets or a reservation.
Speaker 1: Don't just put something on your calendar, or you're going
Speaker 1: to find yourself trying to convince the lady at the
Speaker 1: registration desk for that five K that no, really I
Speaker 1: signed up. It's here in my calendar, except you didn't
Speaker 1: sign up, you just wanted to. So put some sign
Speaker 1: that it is in consideration. I use a question mark,
Speaker 1: as in Devin Horse Show. When it's actually booked, I
Speaker 1: put in the confirmation code or cross out the question mark. Anyway,
Speaker 1: you are not committing yourself to anything. You are just
Speaker 1: noting the option. For most things you don't actually need
Speaker 1: to book months in advance, but this way you know
Speaker 1: that it is a possibility, and so when someone suggests
Speaker 1: something else, are you are weighing another option, you will
Speaker 1: know the opportunity cost. I could go to that banquet,
Speaker 1: but then I won't be able to see that performance.
Speaker 1: I could go hiking that day, but then I'd missed
Speaker 1: the cider festival at the orchard, and you might be
Speaker 1: perfectly fine with that. The entry you have marked on
Speaker 1: your calendar with the question mark is just a suggestion,
Speaker 1: but you want to make an active choice about what
Speaker 1: you are choosing between. Many things are posted quite a
Speaker 1: while in advance, which allows you to put helpful suggestions
Speaker 1: on your calendar far into the future. Now you don't
Speaker 1: have to go overboard here, but you might want to
Speaker 1: carve out a time, maybe when you are planning your
Speaker 1: upcoming weeks on Fridays, to add things more systematically. Your
Speaker 1: kids spring break for the last three days of school
Speaker 1: in June next year, because you can bet there will
Speaker 1: be end of your functions that you will wish you
Speaker 1: hadn't scheduled over. As soon as my daughter signed up
Speaker 1: for some rounds of a two week theater camp, I
Speaker 1: noted the last day of each camp session on my calendar.
Speaker 1: I know there will be a performance in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: I don't want to wind up having to cancel something
Speaker 1: or not see her play just because I didn't think
Speaker 1: this through. For most things, though, you are best off
Speaker 1: doing this whenever you think of it, But do be
Speaker 1: sure to do it when you think of it. Don't
Speaker 1: assume you will think of it again. You might if
Speaker 1: you pass the same poster advertising a concert every time
Speaker 1: you exit your subway station. You are probably going to
Speaker 1: think about that concert tomorrow too, But you never know,
Speaker 1: someone might take down the sign and then you won't
Speaker 1: think of it, and the concert date will come, and
Speaker 1: the concert date will go and you won't be there.
Speaker 1: Far better to mark your calendar. You are just eating
Speaker 1: the option for the future, so your future self well.
Speaker 1: Thank you. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our talk. Hey everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart Media dot com that before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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