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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to assume that you have as much

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Speaker 1: time today as you ever will. It's tempting to put

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Speaker 1: tasks aside until there's more time for them, but more

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Speaker 1: often than not, the extra time we see in the

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Speaker 1: future is just a mirage. We're better off being realistic.

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Speaker 1: Do you have a stack of unread books sitting on

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Speaker 1: your night sand Do you have items on your to

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Speaker 1: do list that keep getting transferred to tomorrow? How about

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Speaker 1: big home projects you keep thinking you should tackle, like

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Speaker 1: repainting the garage. All of us have tasks that may

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Speaker 1: be valuable but aren't urgent in the face of more

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Speaker 1: pressing priorities. The tasks get put off again and again.

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Speaker 1: We'll get to them when life calms down. We'll get

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Speaker 1: to them next month, next year, when the kids are older,

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Speaker 1: when life is somehow different. It's understandable, and sometimes life

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Speaker 1: will be different in the future. I do imagine that

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Speaker 1: my life will look different in twenty years, when I

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Speaker 1: don't have five children under my roof. I imagine it

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Speaker 1: will look different in a few months, once the stay

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Speaker 1: at home COVID nineteen restrictions end, But there are two

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Speaker 1: drawbacks to kicking tasks forward. The first drawback is that

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Speaker 1: the tasks may never get done. If they're worth doing well,

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Speaker 1: that's a loss. The second drawback, which is more pernicious,

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Speaker 1: is that the tasks hang over our heads for days

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Speaker 1: or weeks or months on end. Loose ends create anxiety

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Speaker 1: and consume mental bandwidth. We can operate much better in

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Speaker 1: the present when we're not distracted by nagging two does

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Speaker 1: so what can we do about this? By recognizing that

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Speaker 1: we have as much time today as we ever will,

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Speaker 1: we're able to make more realistic choices about what tasks

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Speaker 1: we choose to take on and what we will let

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Speaker 1: go in the moment. This may mean recognizing that you

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Speaker 1: are never going to do something and letting it go

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Speaker 1: from your list. If you haven't painted in a decade,

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Speaker 1: you probably aren't going to that virtual workshop on watercolor

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Speaker 1: paintings that your local library is hosting, so toss the flyer.

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Speaker 1: On the other hand, sometimes recognizing that we have as

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Speaker 1: much time today as we ever will can prompt us

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Speaker 1: to knock out a task immediately. Go ahead and call

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Speaker 1: your doctor's office. About that billing error. You need to

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Speaker 1: address the issue at some point, and there's no reason

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Speaker 1: to think you'll have more time for that tomorrow, so

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Speaker 1: don't let it linger now. To be sure, sometimes you

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Speaker 1: may find it hard to let go of tasks that

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Speaker 1: don't warrant doing today or scheduling for a specific time

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Speaker 1: in the near future. When that's the case, you might

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Speaker 1: create what David Allen calls a Someday maybe list. As

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Speaker 1: the name suggests, this is a running list of ideas

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Speaker 1: to pursue someday. Maybe you aren't committing to do them,

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Speaker 1: but you're keeping track of them, so you can peruse

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Speaker 1: the list every now and then and pick up any

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Speaker 1: ideas you suddenly feel strongly about. This list creates a

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Speaker 1: middle ground for stuff that sounds nice but doesn't fit

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Speaker 1: into your life right now. But just know that there

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Speaker 1: is not going to be a magical time in the

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Speaker 1: future when you feel more like calling the doctor's office

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Speaker 1: about that billing issue, or when you have so much

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Speaker 1: energy that you can organize the entire garage before breakfast.

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Speaker 1: In the future, you will be pretty much the same

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Speaker 1: as you are now. And maybe that sounds depressing, but

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Speaker 1: hopefully it's liberating. People waste tons of time obsessing about

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Speaker 1: stuff that they're never going to do, and that's a

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Speaker 1: waste of time that could be spent enjoying life as

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Speaker 1: it actually is. So the next time something comes up

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Speaker 1: and you say to yourself that you'll get to it

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Speaker 1: later after this busy season passes, think again. You have

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Speaker 1: as much time today as you ever will, and it's

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Speaker 1: wise to be thoughtful and realistic about how you choose

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Speaker 1: to spend it in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.

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Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can

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Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just

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Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before

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Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then Breakfast

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Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com

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Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart

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Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite shows. H