Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is a simple strategy for when you need
Speaker 1: to do something but can't do it now. Email a
Speaker 1: note to yourself. You'll be far less likely to forget
Speaker 1: what you meant to do. It would be great if
Speaker 1: we only got good ideas when we were able to
Speaker 1: deal with them. You'd think of people to reach out
Speaker 1: to only during business hours and when you were sitting
Speaker 1: at your desk with all the information you need, you
Speaker 1: think of things you'd like to do in the future
Speaker 1: precisely when you're designated weekly planning time rolls around, if
Speaker 1: only right In the real world, many of us get
Speaker 1: good ideas while sitting at the sideline of a kid's practice,
Speaker 1: or while waiting in line for something, well out for
Speaker 1: a walk, so it goes. Often we get these ideas
Speaker 1: precisely because we aren't in our normal working spots. The
Speaker 1: change tends to jar ideas loose. The problem is that
Speaker 1: whatever good ideas we get, or even practical ideas we get,
Speaker 1: like oh yeah, I should follow up with John, can
Speaker 1: disappear as we keep going about our lives. But there's
Speaker 1: a simple solution to this. Almost all of us carry
Speaker 1: our phones with us pretty much everywhere. That means we
Speaker 1: can send an email whenever we get those great ideas.
Speaker 1: I imagine that most people listening to this podcast do
Speaker 1: eventually sort through their primary inboxes. We may not get
Speaker 1: to current quickly, but our main inbox will be addressed
Speaker 1: at some point. That means that it's a reasonable place
Speaker 1: to store anything, knowing it will be looked at again.
Speaker 1: So when you get an idea or remember something you
Speaker 1: need to do, send it as an email to yourself.
Speaker 1: Then when you are processing your email later on, you
Speaker 1: can add that item to your calendar or to your
Speaker 1: to do list, or you can write it wherever you
Speaker 1: will look when you have your weekly planning session, because
Speaker 1: you do have a designated weekly planning time right, this
Speaker 1: works pretty well. A few weeks ago, I remembered, while
Speaker 1: at the sideline of some kit event, that I needed
Speaker 1: to follow up with two former employees about some tax
Speaker 1: forms from I couldn't do much about this at the sidelines.
Speaker 1: I needed access to those files and PDFs or printing,
Speaker 1: but I also really needed to do it, so I
Speaker 1: sent an email to myself. Then when I got through
Speaker 1: my inbox. Next, I put it on the to do
Speaker 1: list for the week. Everyone was located and sent the
Speaker 1: appropriate forms in the form they preferred before the deadline
Speaker 1: problem solved. There are various ways to capture ideas. I
Speaker 1: know some people use the note function on their phones,
Speaker 1: or send themselves voicemails, or have little notepads or sticky
Speaker 1: notes with them. These are all great if they work,
Speaker 1: but I've found that the email to yourself approach works
Speaker 1: best because we always do have our phones and we
Speaker 1: do generally process emails. Let's just say that sticky notes
Speaker 1: sometimes get lost in my purse. It's a far less
Speaker 1: sure system. If you have a good way of capturing ideas,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear about it. You can reach me
Speaker 1: at Laura at Laura Vanderkamp dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p O D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot
Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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