Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to set a life maintenance time. By
Speaker 1: having a spot on the calendar that you generally choose
Speaker 1: for life maintenance tasks, you can make steady progress on
Speaker 1: these and keep them from taking over your life. I
Speaker 1: recently realized that I was past due for a number
Speaker 1: of life maintenance things. My hair needed to be cut,
Speaker 1: I needed to visit the dermatologist. My car needed its
Speaker 1: annual inspection. I needed to get my eyes checked and
Speaker 1: get new contacts. We all need to go to the dentist.
Speaker 1: There are different schools of thought on how to deal
Speaker 1: with this reality. Some people might try to schedule everything
Speaker 1: at once, but taking days off to deal with all
Speaker 1: your personal life issues can make you feel even more
Speaker 1: behind at work, or you feel like you are using
Speaker 1: vacation days for stuff that is not really fun and
Speaker 1: not everyone can take whole days off with limited consequences,
Speaker 1: so I am a fan of a different method. Aim
Speaker 1: to take care of one life maintenance thing every few weeks,
Speaker 1: or maybe once a week if you're catching up. Ideally,
Speaker 1: choose a particular spot during the week that is your
Speaker 1: first choice for scheduling such things that more or less
Speaker 1: works with your work schedule. That way, you know there
Speaker 1: is a time that generally works, that you can ask
Speaker 1: for and that you can build into your schedule and
Speaker 1: into your expectations. There are many potential options here. Many
Speaker 1: people like to take care of appointments first thing, when
Speaker 1: viders are less likely to be running behind. If that
Speaker 1: is the case, early Thursday or Friday morning might be good.
Speaker 1: The week tends to be a little less busy towards
Speaker 1: the end, and hopefully you have tackled your top priorities
Speaker 1: Monday and Tuesday morning, so you don't need this morning
Speaker 1: energy by then. An alternative is a late afternoon spot,
Speaker 1: say Thursday, a bit before you have any after school duties. Yes,
Speaker 1: providers might be running late by the afternoon, but then
Speaker 1: you get most of the work day to focus before
Speaker 1: you need to be answering emails from a waiting room.
Speaker 1: Or perhaps you can shift your work schedule to start
Speaker 1: a little earlier on these days so you don't need
Speaker 1: to take official time off. If weekends are the only
Speaker 1: time that will work for you, choosing an early morning
Speaker 1: slot can still keep the rest of the day open.
Speaker 1: As long as you are done by noon on Saturday,
Speaker 1: you can still enjoy a mostly relaxing weekend knowing that
Speaker 1: you are making progress on all those personal to dues. Now, obviously,
Speaker 1: you don't always get the times that you ask for.
Speaker 1: Sometimes providers are so booked up that you don't have
Speaker 1: a choice, but if you are scheduling far ahead, you might.
Speaker 1: In some places, like maybe hair salons or a pharmacy
Speaker 1: where you're getting a booster shot, might be a bit
Speaker 1: more flexible. And even if a provider only has a
Speaker 1: few slots, if you know that your preferred time is
Speaker 1: early morning later in the week, you can ask them
Speaker 1: to look forward a few weeks from the first time
Speaker 1: you are offered to see if any of your preferred
Speaker 1: spots are available. You might periodically think through any appointments
Speaker 1: you need to make and then assign yourself one each
Speaker 1: week during your weekly planning time. I plan on Friday afternoons,
Speaker 1: so I use that time to make an appointment for
Speaker 1: the following week once I have determined which life maintenance
Speaker 1: thing i'd like or need to do. I am happy
Speaker 1: to report that I recently had a long list that
Speaker 1: I needed to tackle. But now I have everything scheduled.
Speaker 1: Since it's only been one life maintenance item per week,
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm losing my life to car
Speaker 1: inspections and I exams, but I am getting them done.
Speaker 1: It's no fun, but it's part of adulthood and we
Speaker 1: may as well make it work for our lives. In
Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from it. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at the for Breakfast pod that's B
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit
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