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 if something bothers you see if you
Speaker 1: can take some of the time and energy you might
Speaker 1: spend complaining about it and try to change it. Maybe
Speaker 1: you can't change it. We talked earlier this week of
Speaker 1: the list of annoying tasks that still must be dealt with,
Speaker 1: but maybe you can't change it. Because I study how
Speaker 1: people use their time, I love hearing about how people
Speaker 1: get into the activities that they spend their time on. Recently,
Speaker 1: I heard about how an active volunteer got involved in
Speaker 1: the organization she serves. She had realized she was frustrated
Speaker 1: about all the problems in her community, but she just
Speaker 1: talked about them without looking for sols. So, as she
Speaker 1: put it, she decided it was time in her life
Speaker 1: to stop complaining and start making a difference. She became
Speaker 1: an active volunteer for a nonprofit that meets various needs
Speaker 1: in her city. She hasn't solved all her city's problems,
Speaker 1: of course, but she's made a difference in many ways
Speaker 1: that she can see, which helps her feel better about
Speaker 1: her community. In general, I love that in many cases
Speaker 1: there are things we can actively do to solve problems.
Speaker 1: Should your community do a better job about picking up
Speaker 1: trash in public spaces? Sure? Can you also organize a
Speaker 1: small group to come in with trash bags and make
Speaker 1: things look better? Oh? Perhaps you could. At work, you
Speaker 1: might be able to make a difference in all sorts
Speaker 1: of ways. For instance, if it bothers you that your
Speaker 1: workplace does not do much to mark new babies, marriages, retirements, days,
Speaker 1: new hires, departures, and so forth, you could organize a
Speaker 1: team of people who do just that. If it irks
Speaker 1: you that your team doesn't share agendas, you could offer
Speaker 1: to draft them. You can offer to be a timekeeper
Speaker 1: for meetings at home. You can obviously make a difference too.
Speaker 1: Do you wish dinner conversations were more exciting? Think in
Speaker 1: advance about a few topics currently on your family member's
Speaker 1: minds and figure out questions to invite conversation about them.
Speaker 1: Or buy a box of table topics cards so you
Speaker 1: can take turns drawing a card with a question to
Speaker 1: spark conversation. We can even decide to stop complaining and
Speaker 1: do something about aspects of our health. Again, not all
Speaker 1: problems are solvable, or maybe even most of them, but
Speaker 1: some might be. When I got fed up enough about
Speaker 1: my chronic sore throats a few years ago, I did
Speaker 1: some research and figure out what might be causing them.
Speaker 1: I did some experimentation, and I'm happy to report their
Speaker 1: less frequent Now. If you're having trouble sleeping, you could
Speaker 1: try all the good sleep hygiene ideas and take notes
Speaker 1: on any changes. If that doesn't work, you can see
Speaker 1: a sleep specialist and see what you can come up with.
Speaker 1: Complaining takes energy, and probably the people around you are
Speaker 1: going to get tired of hearing it. Eventually. You may
Speaker 1: as well use some of that time and energy to
Speaker 1: seek out solutions. Again, not everything that we might complain
Speaker 1: about has an obvious solution, or at least not one
Speaker 1: that we in particular can put into practice. I Am
Speaker 1: not going to be able to change the format of
Speaker 1: various tax paperwork or anything like that. But sometimes there
Speaker 1: is a solution within our grasp. If so, making a
Speaker 1: difference might just be possible, and then you can reap
Speaker 1: the rewards for a while to come. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.