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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tid is that when you've got something special on the horizon,

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Speaker 1: build up the excitement. That way, you can maximize your enjoyment,

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Speaker 1: the anticipation, and the experience itself. Over the summer, I

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Speaker 1: went to the Olivia Rodrigo concert with my daughter. We

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Speaker 1: had a blast. My daughter is an Olivia Rodrigo fan

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Speaker 1: and knows her music pretty well. I was not particularly

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Speaker 1: familiar with Olivia Rodrigo before the summer. I knew she

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Speaker 1: was popular, especially with teen girls, but that's about all

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Speaker 1: I knew. So for a few weeks before the concert,

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Speaker 1: I gave myself a crash course in her music. I

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Speaker 1: listened to her songs anytime I was in the car.

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Speaker 1: I looked up the playlist for her concert and made

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Speaker 1: sure to focus on those songs in particular, so they

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Speaker 1: became familiar. By the time the concert rolled around, I

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Speaker 1: too was an Olivia Rodrigo fan, and I could sing

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Speaker 1: along with most of her songs. I had way more

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Speaker 1: fun at the concert than I would have had if

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Speaker 1: the concert itself had been my first exposure to her music.

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Speaker 1: I think you might find the same thing to be true.

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Speaker 1: So when you have something special coming up, like a concert,

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Speaker 1: a trip, a party, a fun outing, make a point

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Speaker 1: of actively anticipating it. When you build up the excitement,

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Speaker 1: everything becomes well more exciting. There are a number of

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Speaker 1: ways that you can do this. If you're going to

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Speaker 1: a performing arts event, listen to recordings, say get a

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Speaker 1: taste of what's in store. This is true for music,

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Speaker 1: but also plays operas or dance performances. You can watch those.

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Speaker 1: Reading a play before you see it performed is another

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Speaker 1: way to enhance your enjoyment. You'll be aware of the

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Speaker 1: subtle word play or foreshadowing in a way you wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be if you were just trying to take it in. Relatedly,

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Speaker 1: before going to a museum, find out about the collection,

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Speaker 1: get to know the artists or topics the museum explores.

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Speaker 1: If you're going to a city you've never been to,

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Speaker 1: read about the city, talk with friends who have been

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Speaker 1: there recently, and identify attractions you'd like to see. In

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Speaker 1: addition to planning what you'll do while you're visiting the

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Speaker 1: new place, you can read novels, see movies, or listen

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Speaker 1: to music from or about the place. This isn't particularly

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Speaker 1: hard to do. You can search books by Montreal authors

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Speaker 1: or movie suton Paris and come up with lots of

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Speaker 1: ways to encounter a place before you get there. Even

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Speaker 1: if you are not person only responsible for planning an event,

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Speaker 1: try to get some of the details ahead of time.

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Speaker 1: That way, you can be intentional about anticipating your experience.

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Speaker 1: Preview the menu for a special restaurant, look at the

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Speaker 1: RSVP list to a party if you know it's visible,

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Speaker 1: and then maybe email a friend who's also on there

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Speaker 1: to say how excited you are. Look at photos of

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Speaker 1: Hawaii's beaches and flowers before you get on a plane

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Speaker 1: to go there. You can also ask anybody who will

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Speaker 1: participate in experience with you what they are looking forward to.

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Speaker 1: Now this seems straightforward enough, but I suspect one reason

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Speaker 1: people might not try to build up the excitement is

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Speaker 1: a bit of pessimism. When we are really looking forward

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Speaker 1: to something, it can feel devastating to not have it happen,

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Speaker 1: so we don't want to jinx ourselves. But there is

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Speaker 1: some research finding that anticipation accounts for the lion's share

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Speaker 1: of any happiness associated with an event. Your dinner will

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Speaker 1: be great, but it will only take about ninety minutes.

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Speaker 1: You can look forward to the dinner for weeks. So

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Speaker 1: most of the pleasure is in the anticipation. That means

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Speaker 1: that even if the event doesn't happen, by anticipating it,

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Speaker 1: you will have gotten most of the pleasure out of

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Speaker 1: it that you ever would. Perhaps that sounds crazy, but

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Speaker 1: if you try adopting that mindset, you might find yourself

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Speaker 1: feeling a little more philosophical about the things that do

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Speaker 1: get canceled. How do you build up the excitement for

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Speaker 1: special events? You can let me know at Laura at

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Speaker 1: Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.