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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 that while systems can be great for streamlining

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Speaker 1: your life and reducing mental load, you might not need

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Speaker 1: a system for everything you do. There is no gold

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Speaker 1: star for having a system that doesn't actually serve you.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is inspired by my Best of Both Worlds

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Speaker 1: podcast co host Sarah Hart Hunger. On the podcast We

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Speaker 1: host Together, she mentioned not having a system for keeping

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Speaker 1: track of hand me downs. There's a big gap between

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Speaker 1: her older kids and her youngest kid, and between her

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Speaker 1: youngest kid and her niece. Years pass before an item

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Speaker 1: needs to get from one kid to the next, so

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Speaker 1: she does just fine without an elaborate system of labeled bits.

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Speaker 1: It turns out that for many things in life, you

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Speaker 1: don't actually need a system. Some things can just happen

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Speaker 1: as they happen. For instance, I recently bumped into a

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Speaker 1: friend in the grocery store who said she was there

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Speaker 1: most days. The grocery store is really close and it's quick,

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Speaker 1: so why not she didn't need a more efficient meal

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Speaker 1: planning and grocery system. Some people keep their homes clean

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Speaker 1: without a system as well, especially if you live by

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Speaker 1: yourself or only with adults and don't have pets, you

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Speaker 1: can just clean what's dirty. When you think about it,

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Speaker 1: this would probably not work for my household with seven

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Speaker 1: people and a dog, But if your house stays clean

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Speaker 1: without a system, there's really no need to feel bad

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Speaker 1: about this or to start perusing the web for cleaning schedules.

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Speaker 1: Spend your time on other things. It is all good.

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Speaker 1: Some people seem to believe that systems are intrinsically virtuous.

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Speaker 1: They feel obligated to have a system for everything, or

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Speaker 1: perhaps proud of having a system for everything. And trust me,

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Speaker 1: I get it. I have a lot of systems. But

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Speaker 1: systems are best for things that would otherwise consume a

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Speaker 1: lot of mental energy or time. If you are not

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Speaker 1: currently spending a lot of time or mental energy on something,

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Speaker 1: then a system probably can't reduce that. A system might

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Speaker 1: even increase the mental cost. So if you don't actually

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Speaker 1: need a system, you are wasting your bandwidth in developing

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Speaker 1: and maintaining one. Instead, let things take care of themselves.

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Speaker 1: No one's life is perfectly optimized, and if you go

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Speaker 1: to the grocery store a few times a week and

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Speaker 1: kind of like it. That is absolutely fine. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.