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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: tip is to reassess your safety nets. Backup plans are good,

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Speaker 1: but you don't necessarily need them forever, or at least

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Speaker 1: need the same ones forever. Make sure you take a

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Speaker 1: good look from time to time to see what is

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Speaker 1: still serving you and what isn't. Today's tip, like another

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Speaker 1: this week, comes from Elizabeth Sharp mcketta's new book, Edit

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Speaker 1: Your Life. This book is about how to live with

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Speaker 1: intention in a messy world. One of her suggestions for

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Speaker 1: editing your life is to look around your life at

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Speaker 1: your safety nets and ask what they are keeping you

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Speaker 1: safe from and whether they are serving that purpose. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you need an extra safety net, or maybe you need less.

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Speaker 1: It's hard to know unless you take a really good look.

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Speaker 1: So first some clarification. A literal safety net is the

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Speaker 1: net below an aerial performer that means if the person falls,

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Speaker 1: they won't be badly injured. Metaphorically, a safety net is

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Speaker 1: something that keeps a problem from becoming a disaster. So

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Speaker 1: a safety net, like unemployment insurance, means that if someone

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Speaker 1: loses a job, his or her family will still have

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Speaker 1: some income. We often have safety nets for our individual

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Speaker 1: lives too. For instance, Elizabeth talks of having an accountant

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Speaker 1: friend who took on freelance tax season work while he

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Speaker 1: was growing his own business. He wanted to make sure

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Speaker 1: he had enough cash coming in so that even if

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Speaker 1: the business grew slowly, he would be okay. Some safety

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Speaker 1: nets are absolutely necessary even if you are wealthy or

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Speaker 1: have an incredibly secure job. It is still a good

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Speaker 1: idea to have a few months worth of expenses somewhere

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Speaker 1: you can access easily. If you and your spouse both

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Speaker 1: travel for work and you have kids, you need more

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Speaker 1: than one person available while you are both gone in

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Speaker 1: case something goes wrong for that first person and both

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Speaker 1: of you aren't there. But you do want to ask

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Speaker 1: what the safety nets in your life are keeping you

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Speaker 1: safe from. For instance, the accountant in our example wanted

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Speaker 1: to avoid going broke even if his business took a

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Speaker 1: while to grow, but after he had more clients than

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Speaker 1: he could handle, he really needed to focus on his

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Speaker 1: business rather than diverting his attention to work that was

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Speaker 1: just about paying the bills. His bills were fine. Time

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Speaker 1: to let that particular net go Elizabeth suggests asking if

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Speaker 1: you feel you can live more freely knowing a safety

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Speaker 1: net is below you, or if a particular safety net

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Speaker 1: has started to hamper your choices. What might happen if

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Speaker 1: you shed one of your safety nets? Would you have

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Speaker 1: more time to pursue your creative work, more freedom to

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Speaker 1: do things in your personal life? Or conversely, you might

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Speaker 1: find that certain safety nets might make you braver. For instance,

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Speaker 1: if you don't have an emergency fund, you might live

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Speaker 1: in fear of losing your job. Once you've got a

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Speaker 1: fair amount of cash in the bank, that prospect becomes

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Speaker 1: a lot less terrifying. That means that people have less

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Speaker 1: power over you. You don't really have to do anything.

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Speaker 1: You have choices, and that can make you a lot

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Speaker 1: braver and more free. So reassess your safety nets and

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Speaker 1: figure out which are working for you and which aren't.

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Speaker 1: Figure out if you need to take one away or

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Speaker 1: maybe if you need to add one. Getting the balance

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Speaker 1: right can help you build the life you want. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your

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Speaker 1: tips your questions or anything else. Just connect with me

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's

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Speaker 1: b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You can

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Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at

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Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with

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Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look forward

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Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.

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