WEBVTT - Remember the tulips 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to remember the tulips. You can become

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<v Speaker 1>the kind of person who remembers things when you need

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<v Speaker 1>to remember them by building a very simple weekly planning

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<v Speaker 1>practice into your life. Make this work and you will

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<v Speaker 1>always have tulips blooming come spring. In my part of

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<v Speaker 1>the world, the tulips bloom at some point in April.

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<v Speaker 1>These gorgeous flowers turn the world into a burst of

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<v Speaker 1>primary colors. I've even been a tulip tourist sometime. One

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<v Speaker 1>of my favorite experiences ever was seeing kuckenhof gardens in

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<v Speaker 1>the Netherlands in April. Wow, what a moment to be

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<v Speaker 1>thankful for the extravagant beauty the planet and its people

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<v Speaker 1>offers up. When we see tulips blooming in spring, we

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<v Speaker 1>might think I'd love to have some more of those

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<v Speaker 1>blooming in my yard. But here's the challenge. Tulip bulbs

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<v Speaker 1>generally need to be planted in fall. You need to

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<v Speaker 1>buy the bulbs and dig the holes and say October

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<v Speaker 1>when there is no obvious nudge to do so. The

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<v Speaker 1>nudge to plant tulips. That flowers are blooming all around you.

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<v Speaker 1>Happens in spring when it's not the right time to

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<v Speaker 1>make that desire happen. So how do we reconcile this? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>it's actually quite simple to guarantee that you will remember

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<v Speaker 1>things when you want to remember them. You simply need

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<v Speaker 1>to build a designated weekly planning session into your life

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<v Speaker 1>and have a calendar that you know you will look

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<v Speaker 1>at during that planning session. I planned my weeks on

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<v Speaker 1>Friday afternoons. I heartily recommend that slot, though I know

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<v Speaker 1>at other people like Sunday evenings or Monday mornings. The

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<v Speaker 1>actual time doesn't matter so much is that you know

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<v Speaker 1>it will happen. You need to trust that once every

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<v Speaker 1>week you will look at your life and your time

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<v Speaker 1>and your commitments and figure out what you need to

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<v Speaker 1>do and what you want to do. As for the calendar,

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<v Speaker 1>you need to know that if you put a note

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<v Speaker 1>on it for a future time, there will be a

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<v Speaker 1>time when you look at it and plan with that

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<v Speaker 1>in mind. So, for instance, if you plan on Fridays

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<v Speaker 1>on some April day when you see the tulips and think, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd like some tulips next year, you can write a

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<v Speaker 1>note on your calendar for some Friday in the fall

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<v Speaker 1>about the tulips. Then come that Friday you will see

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<v Speaker 1>the note. You will either put tulip bulb planting on

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<v Speaker 1>your calendar for some point in the next week that

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<v Speaker 1>you are currently planning, or you will push it to

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<v Speaker 1>the next Friday to reconsider. But either way you will

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<v Speaker 1>remember the tulips in the fall, even though this is

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<v Speaker 1>not the obvious time to remember it. The calendar and

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<v Speaker 1>the weekly planning session allow you to send a note

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<v Speaker 1>securely to your future self. This is how I managed

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<v Speaker 1>to occasionally make reservations for things that quickly sell out.

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<v Speaker 1>We've stayed at Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone, eating at

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<v Speaker 1>French Laundry in California, gotten tickets to eat breakfast with Santa,

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<v Speaker 1>some pretty hot commodity places, and so forth. When I

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<v Speaker 1>think of these things, I put a note to myself

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<v Speaker 1>on the calendar for the friday ahead of the slot

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<v Speaker 1>when the reservations open, and I note the window on

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<v Speaker 1>my calendar too. Then when I plan my upcoming week,

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<v Speaker 1>I can build the reservation window into my model. I

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<v Speaker 1>know not to take a phone call at eight a m.

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<v Speaker 1>Tuesday if that is when the window opens. In any case,

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<v Speaker 1>there aren't that many occasions when I need to get

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<v Speaker 1>a reservation for stuff in a specific two minute time frame.

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<v Speaker 1>But there are a lot of things in life that

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<v Speaker 1>are worth thinking about ahead of time. For instance, a

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<v Speaker 1>few months ago, a blog reader recommended that I go

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<v Speaker 1>visit a particular tulip farm in New Jersey that, while

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<v Speaker 1>not Kuckenhof, is supposed to be pretty awesome. I want

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<v Speaker 1>to go when the tulips are at their peak, so

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<v Speaker 1>I put that on a Friday on my calendar for

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<v Speaker 1>early April. On that Friday coming up, I will look

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<v Speaker 1>at my upcoming days and weeks and figure out where

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<v Speaker 1>that can go. I sent this message to my future self,

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<v Speaker 1>and I know my future self will see it. This

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<v Speaker 1>increases the chances of having more fun. I am guessing,

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<v Speaker 1>as a before Breakfast listener that you probably do have

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<v Speaker 1>a weekly planning time. But maybe you mostly use this

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<v Speaker 1>to figure out your upcoming work assignments. And that's fine,

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<v Speaker 1>but you could expand your use of this practice to

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<v Speaker 1>build more exciting things into your life professionally and personally too.

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<v Speaker 1>Start thinking about what messages you could send to your

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<v Speaker 1>future self and get in the habit of putting these

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<v Speaker 1>notes on your calendar for your future planning times, you

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<v Speaker 1>won't forget things you want to do, and you will

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<v Speaker 1>have access to those reminders when they are most worth remembering.

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<v Speaker 1>This is an incredibly useful breakthrough. It's the kind that

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<v Speaker 1>has you enjoying your own tulips rather than just hoping

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<v Speaker 1>you'll remember in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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<v Speaker 1>that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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<v Speaker 1>out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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<v Speaker 1>forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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<v Speaker 1>of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.