WEBVTT - Clear out your calendar

0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.400
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:13.520
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.000
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about how to clear out your calendar

0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:22.320
<v Speaker 1>when your day or week becomes unexpectedly busy. We all

0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.159
<v Speaker 1>have weeks like this. There's something big you need to

0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.400
<v Speaker 1>deal with, but unfortunately your past self packed the week

0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.480
<v Speaker 1>completely full with other things. So how do you deal

0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.360
<v Speaker 1>with it? I want to share the strategy my friend

0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.400
<v Speaker 1>that Lauren Burger uses. Lauren runs the Career Company's career

0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.960
<v Speaker 1>Queen dot com and intern queen dot com. She is

0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:44.320
<v Speaker 1>also the author of the book Get It to Gather.

0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.400
<v Speaker 1>Here's what she said in an email to me. As

0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.120
<v Speaker 1>I write this, I'm looking at my day for tomorrow.

0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.520
<v Speaker 1>It's completely booked with a bunch of non urgent and

0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:59.279
<v Speaker 1>non revenue generating calls from eight thirty am to two

0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.560
<v Speaker 1>thirty pm. If I'm on the phone all day long,

0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.800
<v Speaker 1>how will I accomplish anything on my to do list?

0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.160
<v Speaker 1>As a smart business owner, she didn't want to waste

0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:14.280
<v Speaker 1>all this potential time, so her suggestion go through and

0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.880
<v Speaker 1>push things. Don't be afraid, don't feel bad, just push

0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.480
<v Speaker 1>things out. You have to put yourself first, you have

0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.959
<v Speaker 1>to advocate for you. If you don't do it, who will?

0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.720
<v Speaker 1>So what exactly does she push out? Here are some

0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.160
<v Speaker 1>of the examples she listed. A meeting that I'd classify

0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.840
<v Speaker 1>as they want to have but not a need to have,

0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.480
<v Speaker 1>for example, an internal meeting with team members about sales strategies.

0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.360
<v Speaker 1>Weekly or bi weekly recurring calls where there's no new

0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:46.720
<v Speaker 1>info to share. Oftentimes a quick email can be sent.

0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.760
<v Speaker 1>Anything you're setting is a favor to someone else, an

0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.880
<v Speaker 1>informational interview, an advice call, something you want to do

0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.000
<v Speaker 1>but can't commit to this week. Calls or task items

0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:00.680
<v Speaker 1>that you can have other people will handle for you

0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.840
<v Speaker 1>and just get a quick update on. For example, Lauren says,

0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.360
<v Speaker 1>I don't need to be on the team brainstorm tomorrow

0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.000
<v Speaker 1>where they talk about gift bag ideas for our parties.

0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.200
<v Speaker 1>I can just get a quick email update afterwards. Incoming

0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:17.600
<v Speaker 1>sales pitches or demos that aren't urgent, non revenue generating calls,

0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.040
<v Speaker 1>or meetings, things that you know won't result in dollars

0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.799
<v Speaker 1>until months and months out if ever. So, Lauren was

0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.600
<v Speaker 1>studying her schedule for the next day and seeing which

0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.639
<v Speaker 1>of these things could be rescheduled now. Many of these

0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.000
<v Speaker 1>aren't things that can be put off forever. I'd also

0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.320
<v Speaker 1>point out that if you're constantly the person rescheduling stuff,

0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.880
<v Speaker 1>eventually people won't want to schedule stuff with you at all,

0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.079
<v Speaker 1>so you need to be aware of this. One way

0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.519
<v Speaker 1>to solve this issue is to triage your calendar far

0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.079
<v Speaker 1>ahead of time. Canceling stuff right before it happens can

0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.799
<v Speaker 1>sometimes inconvenience other people if you cancel things a few

0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.400
<v Speaker 1>days ahead of time, though people can usually make other

0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.120
<v Speaker 1>plans long time before. Breakfast listeners know that I like

0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.239
<v Speaker 1>planning weeks on Friday afternoons. When you're doing that, look

0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:05.560
<v Speaker 1>at what's already on your calendar for the next week.

0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.000
<v Speaker 1>If there's a lot of stuff that isn't revenue generating

0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.640
<v Speaker 1>and really doesn't need to happen for a while, and

0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.359
<v Speaker 1>you know there's some other big stuff happening, then take

0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.360
<v Speaker 1>the time on Friday to move it, cancel it, or

0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.560
<v Speaker 1>delegate it. And in the future, be very careful with

0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.720
<v Speaker 1>the word yes. We've talked about only saying yes to

0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:27.920
<v Speaker 1>future things. If you'd say yes tomorrow instead of just

0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.960
<v Speaker 1>agreeing when the salesperson asks for a quick call to

0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.400
<v Speaker 1>talk to you about that product he's pitching. Actually, picture

0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:38.560
<v Speaker 1>yourself in the future taking time away from something really

0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.760
<v Speaker 1>important to your business in order to listen to this pitch.

0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.280
<v Speaker 1>Will you be mad at yourself as you're doing it?

0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.760
<v Speaker 1>If so, then don't say yes in the first place.

0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.720
<v Speaker 1>What will you clear from your calendar today? In the meantime,

0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.320
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:06.960
<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. M Hey everybody, I'd love

0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.240
<v Speaker 1>to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.960
<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:18.800
<v Speaker 1>Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b the

0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:23.080
<v Speaker 1>number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.520
<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i

0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.640
<v Speaker 1>heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out

0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.400
<v Speaker 1>with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:40.560
<v Speaker 1>to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.960
<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.960
<v Speaker 1>visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:49.360
<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.