Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that people are a good use of time.
Speaker 1: On this Valentine's Day, we think of romantic love, but
Speaker 1: there are lots of forms of love, and all these
Speaker 1: forms of love benefit from frequency in expressing them. So
Speaker 1: for those you are closest to, aim to create three
Speaker 1: moments of genuine connection each week. You will make your
Speaker 1: loved ones feel good and you will probably be happier too.
Speaker 1: Long time listeners know that one of my favorite time
Speaker 1: management rules is that three times a week is a habit.
Speaker 1: Anything we do three times a week is a regular
Speaker 1: part of our lives. This can be a helpful mindset
Speaker 1: in situations where it might be difficult or impossible to
Speaker 1: do something daily. If you travel frequently for work, you
Speaker 1: might not be able to read to your kids every night,
Speaker 1: but you probably can read to them three times per week.
Speaker 1: So rather than lament that you often aren't there on
Speaker 1: Tuesday night, you can make the most of the nights
Speaker 1: you are there and relish your identity as a dedicated
Speaker 1: bedtime literary guide. I find this is also a helpful
Speaker 1: mindset for connecting with friends and family members who you
Speaker 1: might not spend huge amounts of time with every single day.
Speaker 1: With my kids, for instance, I spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time with a toddler by virtue of him being little
Speaker 1: and needing constant care. The four older kids, on the
Speaker 1: other hand, are in school all day and they have activities,
Speaker 1: and when they are home, they can often disappear into
Speaker 1: their rooms seemingly for days, emerging only when required to
Speaker 1: or to eat. So as I think about my time
Speaker 1: and think about my weeks, I try to engineer at
Speaker 1: least a handful of moments where connection might be possible.
Speaker 1: Often this involves driving a kid somewhere. They don't always
Speaker 1: want to talk in the car, but sometimes they do.
Speaker 1: I like Legos for their own sake, but I definitely
Speaker 1: enjoy the fact that I can do complicated sets with
Speaker 1: my older kids. I find the pieces for each step,
Speaker 1: they put the pieces together. I think about this with
Speaker 1: my husband as well. Even on weeks when we don't
Speaker 1: have a date night, we might be able to eat
Speaker 1: lunch together three times while we are both working from home.
Speaker 1: During the busy years when people are building careers and
Speaker 1: raising families, getting together with friends can be really challenging.
Speaker 1: But if you broaden your actions to connecting in some
Speaker 1: form or another, perhaps you can aim for three moments
Speaker 1: of connection during the week with at least your closest friends.
Speaker 1: Maybe you get together once and have one call and
Speaker 1: one text conversation, or maybe it's three texts if it
Speaker 1: is that sort of week, but at least it is frequent.
Speaker 1: So as you think about how you spend your time,
Speaker 1: think about the people you feel closest to. Would it
Speaker 1: be possible to connect in some way three times per week.
Speaker 1: The forms of connection might be front for different people,
Speaker 1: but with three as your target, you will generally be
Speaker 1: aiming for a little more than might naturally happen with
Speaker 1: folks who are harder to connect with, but it will
Speaker 1: still feel doable. And when things feel doable, we do them.
Speaker 1: Now I realized for some folks listening to this, it
Speaker 1: might sound a little funny to put numbers on connecting
Speaker 1: with people, or to set targets at all. In this area.
Speaker 1: We should just do what feels authentic. We should seize
Speaker 1: the moment, and that's a great idea. I certainly take
Speaker 1: opportunities to connect when they arise, but in our distracted world,
Speaker 1: it is easy to do other things. Love is shown
Speaker 1: in ours. Relationships are built on frequency. There are many
Speaker 1: things in life outside our control, but some things are
Speaker 1: in our control. We can't control how people will respond,
Speaker 1: but we can control our actions. Thinking through and planning
Speaker 1: connection helps to make it happen. In the meantime, This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at i heeart media
Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.
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