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 thirty minutes can change your evening. Setting
Speaker 1: one thirty minute intention for a weekday evening can make
Speaker 1: the evening feel like it is something to look forward
Speaker 1: to and can make this time feel like it truly exists.
Speaker 1: Today's tip comes out of my recent September reset project.
Speaker 1: I had people track their time during the month of
Speaker 1: September and then try out several of my favorite time
Speaker 1: management strategies. One of these strategies was to set evening intentions.
Speaker 1: That is, to try to make what I like to
Speaker 1: call the golden hours of each weekday better. Weekday evenings
Speaker 1: have been something of an obsession for me lately because well,
Speaker 1: very few people use them well. People are tired after
Speaker 1: a long day at work or school, or spent caring
Speaker 1: for family members. This time can feel like a second
Speaker 1: shift of doing chores and getting people to bed, or
Speaker 1: sometimes it is spent mindlessly on screen time and puttering
Speaker 1: things that feel so forgettable that people don't even notice
Speaker 1: they are doing them. The issue with all this is
Speaker 1: that many people's evenings are actually quite long. In my projects,
Speaker 1: I have found that many people are done with work
Speaker 1: by five thirty or so, and most people are not
Speaker 1: in bed before ten thirty pm. That is five hours.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of time to write off as unusable. Now,
Speaker 1: in my perfect world, people would think through all five
Speaker 1: hours and think of how to spend this time in
Speaker 1: ways that were meaningful and enjoyable for themselves and the
Speaker 1: people they care about. In the real world, I know
Speaker 1: that it's unrealistic, and we do have obligations for this time.
Speaker 1: I know I spend a lot of time driving kids around,
Speaker 1: cooking dinner, supervising bedtimes, and so forth. But almost all
Speaker 1: of us have some discretionary time. Even if you are
Speaker 1: caring for kids, or even if you work late or unpredictably,
Speaker 1: you can probably find thirty minutes. And thinking about what
Speaker 1: you'd like to do for thirty minutes ahead of time
Speaker 1: can completely change your evenings. So if you are listening
Speaker 1: to a show called Before Breakfast in the morning, think
Speaker 1: about tonight. What could you do for thirty minutes tonight
Speaker 1: that you would find genuinely enjoyable. What would you look
Speaker 1: forward to? Maybe it's reading a magazine that just came
Speaker 1: in the mail. Maybe it's reading a book. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: doing ah or puzzles, or maybe it's something creative like
Speaker 1: cross stitching or sketching. Maybe it's having a glass of
Speaker 1: wine with your partner. Maybe it's calling a friend. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's going on a family walk or hitting the gym.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's watching something you have chosen and you are
Speaker 1: looking forward to, not just whatever the algorithm served up.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is, think about what you would like to
Speaker 1: do tonight. Think about where this could go, right when
Speaker 1: you get home from work, right after dinner, after the
Speaker 1: kids are in bed, When do you have at least
Speaker 1: a few minutes of discretionary time do you need to
Speaker 1: do anything to make your intention happen? When you set
Speaker 1: an intention and set an intended time and think through
Speaker 1: the logistics, the odds of you doing something are just
Speaker 1: much greater. And then when your fun happens, suddenly evenings
Speaker 1: become or fun. The day isn't over after dinner. There
Speaker 1: is still time that can be used. I promise that
Speaker 1: even just thirty minutes can change your evenings. Now it's
Speaker 1: possible that you will find space for thirty minutes of
Speaker 1: fun and decide you can stretch this a bit. Thirty
Speaker 1: minutes of reading becomes forty five. You decide to draw
Speaker 1: for thirty minutes, and you are still at it an
Speaker 1: hour later. You won't get any complaining from me about
Speaker 1: this possibility. But even if only thirty minutes fits, I
Speaker 1: am guessing you can do thirty minutes and evenings won't
Speaker 1: be forgettable or draining. They will be a source of
Speaker 1: real joy in your life. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.