WEBVTT - Second Cup: Your head is a lousy office

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is that your head is a lousy office.

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<v Speaker 2>Don't try to remember to do's and where tos and

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<v Speaker 2>how tos. Instead, get tasks, scheduled commitments, and other information

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<v Speaker 2>out of your head and into something much more reliable

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<v Speaker 2>that will help keep you on track and keep your

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<v Speaker 2>mind free for other things. Today's tip comes from a

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<v Speaker 2>recent article in The New York Times about the use

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<v Speaker 2>of professional productivity tools in our personal lives. If you

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<v Speaker 2>have ever sent out a doodle poll to find a

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<v Speaker 2>date for your book club, used a spreadsheet to coordinate

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<v Speaker 2>who's bringing what to Thanksgiving dinner, or if you email

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<v Speaker 2>your best friend as often as your boss, you understand

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<v Speaker 2>the concept. I actually think it's wise to bring the

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<v Speaker 2>same intentionality to our personal time that we bring to

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<v Speaker 2>our work, and if the tools of your professional life

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<v Speaker 2>can help you do that, why not use them. In

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<v Speaker 2>the article, productivity guru David Allen is credited with pointing

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<v Speaker 2>out that your head is a lousy office, though apparently

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<v Speaker 2>he used a more colorful word than lousy. In our

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<v Speaker 2>professional and personal lives. It is smart to remember that

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<v Speaker 2>humans have a lot of trouble remembering things. We mean well,

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<v Speaker 2>but we're busy, we get distracted. Rather than tax our

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<v Speaker 2>working memory, it's better to keep track of appointments, to dos,

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<v Speaker 2>priorities and so forth somewhere else that I can consult

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<v Speaker 2>when we need to. If you are listening to before breakfast,

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<v Speaker 2>you are probably more inclined than the average person to

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<v Speaker 2>put your scheduled commitments in a paper or digital calendar.

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<v Speaker 2>That's good for work, and it's good for personal commitments

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<v Speaker 2>like a date with your partner or your spin class. However,

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<v Speaker 2>most of us have responsibilities that are not particularly time bound.

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<v Speaker 2>We have tasks we need to remember. True productivity means

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<v Speaker 2>getting these vague thoughts out of your head, which remember,

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<v Speaker 2>is a lowsy office, and somewhere actionable. For most of us,

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<v Speaker 2>that means creating.

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<v Speaker 1>A variety of lists. I make a weekly priority list

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<v Speaker 1>every Friday about the main things that need to get

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<v Speaker 1>done that week. I make daily to do lists, where

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<v Speaker 1>I pull items off the weekly list based on what

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<v Speaker 1>else I have going on. I also keep a Friday

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<v Speaker 1>punch list of little tasks that I need to tackle

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<v Speaker 1>at some point, things like making a hair appointment or

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<v Speaker 1>ordering a gift. I add to this list as I

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<v Speaker 1>think of these things, and then I aim to do

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<v Speaker 1>them all in one fell swoop at a low energy time.

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<v Speaker 1>Hence why I call it a Friday punch list. That's

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty good number of lists, but honestly most of

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<v Speaker 1>us should use still more. There's the grocery list, which

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<v Speaker 1>hopefully means you don't spend two hundred and fifty dollars

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<v Speaker 1>at the store and still come home with nothing for dinner.

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<v Speaker 1>There may be lists of desires. I like the idea

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<v Speaker 1>of a list of one hundred dreams of things you

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<v Speaker 1>might want to do someday. You could put restaurants you'd

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<v Speaker 1>like to try, or places to visit, or concerts to

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<v Speaker 1>experience on there. You probably also want some good system

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<v Speaker 1>for nudging yourself to think about things at the right time.

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<v Speaker 1>It turns out that.

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<v Speaker 2>June is often too late to be thinking about summer plans,

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<v Speaker 2>at least if your kids want to go to popular camps,

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<v Speaker 2>or if you enjoy popular vacation destinations. So maybe you

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<v Speaker 2>can set a calendar alarm for a date in January

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<v Speaker 2>to start thinking of summer. You could set a date

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<v Speaker 2>in mid November to think through holiday gifts. If your

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<v Speaker 2>school district releases the calendar at a certain time of year,

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<v Speaker 2>you could set an alarm for that time to start

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<v Speaker 2>putting in PTO requests. The point here is that you

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<v Speaker 2>aren't going to remember to do this on your own.

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<v Speaker 2>You might think, how could I not remember to start

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<v Speaker 2>planning the summer? But life gets busy. You'll have a

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<v Speaker 2>huge work project in January, or everyone will get sick,

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<v Speaker 2>and it will just slip your mind yet again. You

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<v Speaker 2>might not hit some deadlines. You might mean to remember

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<v Speaker 2>your sister's birthday, but you know you forgot it last year.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you really trust your brain to remember this year,

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<v Speaker 2>even though it's failed before. Your brain is a lousy office.

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<v Speaker 2>The support staff is massively subpar. You need systems that

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<v Speaker 2>actually work for you. So get it all out of

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<v Speaker 2>your head and you'll be much better off. If you're

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<v Speaker 2>interested in the New York Times article I mentioned, you

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<v Speaker 2>can find it at ny Times dot com by searching

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<v Speaker 2>on its title when did our personal lives get so professional?

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<v Speaker 2>In addition to David Allen, I am cited in the

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<v Speaker 2>article too. I'd love to hear what you think about

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<v Speaker 2>using professional productivity tools and your personal life. You can

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<v Speaker 2>reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In

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<v Speaker 2>the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's

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<v Speaker 2>to making the moose of our tech.

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

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<v Speaker 1>send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just

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<v Speaker 1>connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then breakfast pod.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

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<v Speaker 1>out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I

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<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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