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 the known is less scary than the unknown.
Speaker 1: If you've got a busy time coming up, or are
Speaker 1: facing down a lot of responsibilities, getting a handle on
Speaker 1: exactly what is going on can make everything feel less overwhelming.
Speaker 1: So lately I have been reading my four year old
Speaker 1: the book Tiny t Rex and the Very Dark Dark.
Speaker 1: This is about a little t rex child who wants
Speaker 1: to sleep outside in the backyard, but of course he
Speaker 1: is frightened by the darkness, so he and his stegosaurus
Speaker 1: friend hatch a plan to hang lights out there to
Speaker 1: escape the grumbles and the nambies. It doesn't go entirely
Speaker 1: as planned, which is good since that creates a plot.
Speaker 1: But of course, one upside of being able to look
Speaker 1: around in the light is that you can see that
Speaker 1: there aren't any nambies lurking in the trees. The known
Speaker 1: is less scary than the unknown. I think of this
Speaker 1: when I turn on my flashlight while dealing with late
Speaker 1: night issues in the yard, and also whenever I plan
Speaker 1: my upcoming weeks. Life can get very busy with work
Speaker 1: travel and work demands, and the kid's schedules and the like.
Speaker 1: I know people listening to this podcast are juggling all
Speaker 1: sorts of things. I've had people tell me that they
Speaker 1: sometimes feel like they don't want to list everything that
Speaker 1: is on their plates because they are worried they won't
Speaker 1: be able to deal with it. They just don't want
Speaker 1: to know. And I get it, but that's like being
Speaker 1: out in the backyard with the grumbles and the nambies.
Speaker 1: I really do believe that the unknown is scarier than
Speaker 1: the known. When you can see everything, you can make
Speaker 1: a plan to deal with it. You can tackle the
Speaker 1: immediately looming things and schedule the less looming things to
Speaker 1: a later time. You can figure out what you need
Speaker 1: to do and what other people can help with, and
Speaker 1: you can decide to let some things go and focus
Speaker 1: on others that matter more instead of just dealing with
Speaker 1: whatever is right in front of you at the moment.
Speaker 1: You might even decide that there isn't as much as
Speaker 1: you thought on your plate and you can get through
Speaker 1: a lot of it with a push. Or you might
Speaker 1: realize that there is a lot, but there was going
Speaker 1: to be a lot, whether you knew about it or not.
Speaker 1: Better to be able to intelligently triage the mess. So
Speaker 1: if you are facing a busy time, I encourage you
Speaker 1: to make a list of everything you need to do
Speaker 1: to deal with it. Take a few minutes to brainstorm
Speaker 1: what's on your mind and get it out of your head.
Speaker 1: Then make sure you are doing a weekly planning session
Speaker 1: to figure out what needs to happen when, what can
Speaker 1: you deal with in the next week, what should happen immediately,
Speaker 1: and what should happen later. You can supplement this with
Speaker 1: a mini session for each day. Before each workday ends,
Speaker 1: make a quick list of what you're going to reasonably
Speaker 1: get done the next day, or you can do it
Speaker 1: in the morning. Whatever works. But there is no reason
Speaker 1: to be out without a flashlight. When Tiny t Rex's
Speaker 1: string of Christmas lights blue affuse, he looked up and
Speaker 1: saw the stars and they provided a lot of light too.
Speaker 1: That is better than closing your eyes because you are scared.
Speaker 1: The known is less scary than the unknown. One way
Speaker 1: or another, you are going to make it through in
Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.