Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Today's tip is to be
Speaker 1: nice to your future self. Have you ever had the
Speaker 1: experience of looking at what's on your calendar for the
Speaker 1: week and saying, Oh, my goodness, why did I agree
Speaker 1: to this? What on earth was I thinking? Maybe it's
Speaker 1: something that is theoretically interesting or fund but you've just
Speaker 1: got so much going on right now and you're committed
Speaker 1: to this thing, and so you are kicking yourself for
Speaker 1: saying yes. Does this sound familiar? Well, if you're human,
Speaker 1: I'm betting it does. I've spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: thinking about why exactly we agree to things. I think
Speaker 1: that what happens is that it's hard to say no.
Speaker 1: And the further something is in the future, the more
Speaker 1: we feel like we're assigning it to a completely different person.
Speaker 1: We're telling ourselves, oh, June, it will never be June.
Speaker 1: Or perhaps the conversation with yourself goes something like this, Oh,
Speaker 1: June me won't be busy. June me is gonna have
Speaker 1: tons of time. I mean, you do look at your
Speaker 1: June calendar and it looks pretty clear at the moment, right, So, yeah,
Speaker 1: June me can totally do this.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Come June, you are going to be the exact same
Speaker 1: person you are now. You are gonna be just as busy.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have just as much going on, only now
Speaker 1: you will also have this other commitment that you are
Speaker 1: lukewarm about in March, stacked onto the pile. So here's
Speaker 1: a better question to ask yourself. When you are asked
Speaker 1: to do something in the future. Would I do this tomorrow? Now?
Speaker 2: Of course you protest, I'm busy tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I'm booked up solid tomorrow, which is somewhat the point
Speaker 1: because you will be in June as well, But consider this,
Speaker 1: would you be tempted to move stuff around or cancel
Speaker 1: things in order to fit in this new opportunity? If
Speaker 1: you would, awesome, you're gonna be just as excited in June.
Speaker 2: So go ahead and say yes. I promise you won't
Speaker 2: be kicking yourself about it.
Speaker 1: But if the answer is absolutely not, no way, would
Speaker 1: I ever take this on for tomorrow, probably that should
Speaker 1: be your answer for June two, because when we think
Speaker 1: about tomorrow, we can think rationally about the opportunity costs
Speaker 1: in a way that we just can't for days that
Speaker 1: are far in the future. When you're asked to do something.
Speaker 1: The question you should ask yourself is not am I free?
Speaker 1: Which is often the question that we're asking ourselves about
Speaker 1: things that occur many months from now. The question is
Speaker 1: is this a better use of my time than the
Speaker 1: other things I could be doing tomorrow? You know exactly
Speaker 1: what you could be doing, you know exactly what else
Speaker 1: is on your plate, and you know just how much
Speaker 1: energy you'll have in a way that it's really hard
Speaker 1: to picture for the future. Here's some additional motivation for
Speaker 1: being more careful with the word yes. If you say
Speaker 1: yes to stuff that's only a four or five on
Speaker 1: a ten point scale, well you're going to be too
Speaker 1: busy to say yes to the things that are a
Speaker 1: nine or a ten.
Speaker 2: You'll already be committed to stuff, and.
Speaker 1: So you won't be able to take on some great
Speaker 1: new opportunity, and that would be a shame. So what
Speaker 1: low value thing are you going to say no to today?
Speaker 1: What four or five point thing are you going to
Speaker 1: decide just shouldn't be in your life.
Speaker 2: In the future.
Speaker 1: Let's say no and free up space for a ten.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time.
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody got a tip or a question.
Speaker 1: You can share them with me on Twitter, Facebook or
Speaker 1: Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 2: That's b E the number four then breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: You can also email me at Before Breakfast Podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 2: For the email, just spell those words out.
Speaker 1: I look forward to connecting and learning how you make
Speaker 1: the most of your time.