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 about how you can win the week
Speaker 1: ahead in twenty minutes. By taking a few minutes on
Speaker 1: Friday to think about the next week's priorities, you increase
Speaker 1: the chances of spending time well and the really good
Speaker 1: news is that this doesn't take much time at all.
Speaker 1: Over the past year, I have become a big fan
Speaker 1: of the podcast Best Laid Plans, which is hosted by
Speaker 1: my friend Sarah hart Unger, who is also my co
Speaker 1: host on the Best of Both Worlds podcast. Her podcast
Speaker 1: shows all the amazing planners out there, and she interviews
Speaker 1: people who have inspiring artistic styles of writing or planner decoration.
Speaker 1: I love learning about this world old, but what I
Speaker 1: have come to recognize is that planning has a functional
Speaker 1: component and then for the planner community, an aesthetic elegant component.
Speaker 1: In this way, it's a lot like cooking. You can
Speaker 1: create amazing meals and study for a lifetime to be
Speaker 1: a gourmet chef, but you don't have to do that either.
Speaker 1: Most of us would improve our lives by mastering a
Speaker 1: few twenty minute meals that will feed our families on weeknights.
Speaker 1: Same with planning, you can create intricate spreads with high
Speaker 1: end planners and beautiful pens. You can also get a
Speaker 1: basic notebook, look at your calendar, and do a quick
Speaker 1: and dirty planning session once a week that takes twenty
Speaker 1: minutes max. That is pretty much what I do on Friday's.
Speaker 1: I sit down with my planner and my calendar, and
Speaker 1: I think through my priorities for the upcoming week. I
Speaker 1: list what projects I'd like to spend my time on,
Speaker 1: pally and personally. I figure out what is already on
Speaker 1: my calendar that deserves extra attention. I draw up a
Speaker 1: rough schedule for the week and think through logistics, and
Speaker 1: then I am done. I often do this while eating
Speaker 1: my lunch. It's really no big deal. Some people have
Speaker 1: told me they are too tired to plan on Fridays,
Speaker 1: which makes me think they've got the idea of planning
Speaker 1: kind of wrong. Lower your standards and you will realize
Speaker 1: it's not a marathon. It's really just a quick walk
Speaker 1: around the block. But take that walk Friday after Friday,
Speaker 1: and the upcoming weeks will be so much less stressful.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to implement a weekly planning session, but
Speaker 1: think it will take too much time. Challenge yourself to
Speaker 1: set a timer for twenty minutes and absolutely do not
Speaker 1: spend more time on it than that. My guess is
Speaker 1: that in twenty minutes you'll get a lot more done,
Speaker 1: and you think you will. You'll have a much better
Speaker 1: handle on your upcoming week. You'll know what's going on
Speaker 1: and what you'd like to have going on. Maybe you'll
Speaker 1: send a note to a friend to arrange a phone call,
Speaker 1: or to your spouse to arrange a date night, or
Speaker 1: you'll make a reservation for that exercise class you keep
Speaker 1: wanting to try. That is a lot of future fun
Speaker 1: for your twenty minutes. And maybe I'll see that there's
Speaker 1: a big project do Friday, but Thursday is full of meetings,
Speaker 1: so you will carve out time to work on the
Speaker 1: big project on Tuesday and Wednesday rather than being surprised
Speaker 1: by it. That is a lot of tranquility for twenty minutes.
Speaker 1: And so this is a big win. When we plan,
Speaker 1: we don't live in chaos, or at least that chaos
Speaker 1: that is always lurking is more manageable. And yes, you
Speaker 1: could spend hours on planning. You could spend days planning,
Speaker 1: but you can also spend twenty minutes and get a
Speaker 1: lot done. So why not give it a try. 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 you. 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 Before Breakfast pod that's B the
Speaker 1: number four, then breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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