WEBVTT - Corral the bouncing balls

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to keep track of all your responsibilities

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<v Speaker 1>somewhere other than you're busy mind, or, as Christina Senby

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<v Speaker 1>put it to me, corral the bouncing balls. Christina is

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<v Speaker 1>a mom of four, an e er doctor and professor,

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<v Speaker 1>and she also coaches med students and faculty on productivity,

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<v Speaker 1>so she is responsible for keeping a lot of balls

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<v Speaker 1>in the air. Earlier this year, she was a guest

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<v Speaker 1>on the Best of Both Worlds podcast, which I co

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<v Speaker 1>host with Sarah hart Onger. Christina described thinking about time

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<v Speaker 1>use by considering the compass are intended direction in life,

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<v Speaker 1>the clock efficient use of time, and the key mental clarity.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing that gets in the way of mental clarity

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<v Speaker 1>and efficiency, all those nagging thoughts that bounce through our

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<v Speaker 1>brains like balls. You know how this goes. I'm almost

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<v Speaker 1>out of allergy medicine. I have to renew my professional license.

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<v Speaker 1>Is there aftercare? When the kids have half days for

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<v Speaker 1>parent teacher conferences? Who's going to handle event registrations while

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<v Speaker 1>Phil is out of town? What am I do for

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<v Speaker 1>an eye doctor? Appointment, too much bouncing, and we never

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<v Speaker 1>get anything done. But the problem is that no matter

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<v Speaker 1>what we do, life is going to feature a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of bouncing balls. We simply have to learn to deal

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<v Speaker 1>with them. Shun We recommends figuring out a way to

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<v Speaker 1>offload all the nagging tasks and get them out of

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<v Speaker 1>our minds. That way, she says, we can preserve cognitive

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<v Speaker 1>load for the important work our brains need to focus on.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the best ways to do this is to

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<v Speaker 1>create a categorized master to do list. Now, this is

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<v Speaker 1>not your daily task list, which, as listeners know, should

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<v Speaker 1>be a very short list of items. Rather, we are

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<v Speaker 1>talking about a running list of future responsibilities that you

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<v Speaker 1>just don't want to forget. This categorized master list can

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<v Speaker 1>be on paper, such as in a bullet journal, or

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<v Speaker 1>if you prefer digital tools, you could use the notes

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<v Speaker 1>app on your phone. No need to get too specific

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<v Speaker 1>with categories. For most people, categories can be as broad

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<v Speaker 1>as Errand's home desk calls. In other words, consider where

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<v Speaker 1>and when you can perform the task. That's important because

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<v Speaker 1>with an uncategorized task list, available time might not match

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<v Speaker 1>up with doable work you may intend to handle. Tasks

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<v Speaker 1>after your kids are in bed. But whoops, look at

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<v Speaker 1>the task lists and it says get light bulbs from

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<v Speaker 1>home depot, and you can't go to home depot to

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<v Speaker 1>get the hight bulbs and leave the sleeping kids home alone.

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<v Speaker 1>But you could do tasks that would go on the

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<v Speaker 1>home or desk lists. Hence the efficiency of the categorized

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<v Speaker 1>to do list. Some people like to attach every to

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<v Speaker 1>do to a specific time, or at least to a

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<v Speaker 1>specific day when they'll get it done. If that is you,

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<v Speaker 1>you can put it on the calendar for then, though.

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<v Speaker 1>Another option is to time block for general bouncing ball crawling.

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<v Speaker 1>You could schedule an administrative time from one to two

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<v Speaker 1>pm two days a week at work, so you've got

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<v Speaker 1>business hours, and for an hour some weekday evening or

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<v Speaker 1>on the weekend each week, choose some tasks from the

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<v Speaker 1>master list to tackle during this time. That way you

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<v Speaker 1>make progress on the list, but even more importantly, you

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<v Speaker 1>aren't trying to deal with these bouncing balls all the time.

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<v Speaker 1>You know there is a time for calling and refills

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<v Speaker 1>and looking at the school after cares edule, and now

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<v Speaker 1>is not that time, So your brain can relax, get

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<v Speaker 1>this stuff out of your head and your mind will

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<v Speaker 1>be free, or at least relatively so. And in the

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<v Speaker 1>world with a lot of bouncing balls, that may be

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<v Speaker 1>the best we can do. In the meantime. This is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com

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<v Speaker 1>that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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