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 assume that you have as much
Speaker 1: time today as you ever will. It's tempting to put
Speaker 1: tasks aside until there's more time for them, but more
Speaker 1: often than not, the extra time we see in the
Speaker 1: future is just a mirage. We're better off being realistic.
Speaker 1: Do you have a stack of unread books sitting on
Speaker 1: your night sand Do you have items on your to
Speaker 1: do list that keep getting transferred to tomorrow? How about
Speaker 1: big home projects you keep thinking you should tackle, like
Speaker 1: repainting the garage. All of us have tasks that may
Speaker 1: be valuable but aren't urgent in the face of more
Speaker 1: pressing priorities. The tasks get put off again and again.
Speaker 1: We'll get to them when life calms down. We'll get
Speaker 1: to them next month, next year, when the kids are older,
Speaker 1: when life is somehow different. It's understandable, and sometimes life
Speaker 1: will be different in the future. I do imagine that
Speaker 1: my life will look different in twenty years, when I
Speaker 1: don't have five children under my roof. I imagine it
Speaker 1: will look different in a few months, once the stay
Speaker 1: at home COVID nineteen restrictions end, But there are two
Speaker 1: drawbacks to kicking tasks forward. The first drawback is that
Speaker 1: the tasks may never get done. If they're worth doing well,
Speaker 1: that's a loss. The second drawback, which is more pernicious,
Speaker 1: is that the tasks hang over our heads for days
Speaker 1: or weeks or months on end. Loose ends create anxiety
Speaker 1: and consume mental bandwidth. We can operate much better in
Speaker 1: the present when we're not distracted by nagging two does
Speaker 1: so what can we do about this? By recognizing that
Speaker 1: we have as much time today as we ever will,
Speaker 1: we're able to make more realistic choices about what tasks
Speaker 1: we choose to take on and what we will let
Speaker 1: go in the moment. This may mean recognizing that you
Speaker 1: are never going to do something and letting it go
Speaker 1: from your list. If you haven't painted in a decade,
Speaker 1: you probably aren't going to that virtual workshop on watercolor
Speaker 1: paintings that your local library is hosting, so toss the flyer.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, sometimes recognizing that we have as
Speaker 1: much time today as we ever will can prompt us
Speaker 1: to knock out a task immediately. Go ahead and call
Speaker 1: your doctor's office. About that billing error. You need to
Speaker 1: address the issue at some point, and there's no reason
Speaker 1: to think you'll have more time for that tomorrow, so
Speaker 1: don't let it linger now. To be sure, sometimes you
Speaker 1: may find it hard to let go of tasks that
Speaker 1: don't warrant doing today or scheduling for a specific time
Speaker 1: in the near future. When that's the case, you might
Speaker 1: create what David Allen calls a Someday maybe list. As
Speaker 1: the name suggests, this is a running list of ideas
Speaker 1: to pursue someday. Maybe you aren't committing to do them,
Speaker 1: but you're keeping track of them, so you can peruse
Speaker 1: the list every now and then and pick up any
Speaker 1: ideas you suddenly feel strongly about. This list creates a
Speaker 1: middle ground for stuff that sounds nice but doesn't fit
Speaker 1: into your life right now. But just know that there
Speaker 1: is not going to be a magical time in the
Speaker 1: future when you feel more like calling the doctor's office
Speaker 1: about that billing issue, or when you have so much
Speaker 1: energy that you can organize the entire garage before breakfast.
Speaker 1: In the future, you will be pretty much the same
Speaker 1: as you are now. And maybe that sounds depressing, but
Speaker 1: hopefully it's liberating. People waste tons of time obsessing about
Speaker 1: stuff that they're never going to do, and that's a
Speaker 1: waste of time that could be spent enjoying life as
Speaker 1: it actually is. So the next time something comes up
Speaker 1: and you say to yourself that you'll get to it
Speaker 1: later after this busy season passes, think again. You have
Speaker 1: as much time today as you ever will, and it's
Speaker 1: wise to be thoughtful and realistic about how you choose
Speaker 1: to spend it in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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