WEBVTT - Could you finish?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to ask yourself whether you could finish a

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<v Speaker 1>task before moving it to the next day's to do list.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't take it for granted that unfinished tasks will get

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<v Speaker 1>migrated from one day to the next. Pause to consider

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<v Speaker 1>whether you could just get the tasks done. Longtime listeners

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<v Speaker 1>have probably heard me recommend seeing a to do list

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<v Speaker 1>as a contract with yourself. I see putting a task

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<v Speaker 1>on a to do list as a promise that you

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<v Speaker 1>will complete the task that day. For people who don't

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<v Speaker 1>take that perspective, though, I would suggest at least being

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<v Speaker 1>a little slower to migrate a task from one days

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<v Speaker 1>to do list to the next. When you review your

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<v Speaker 1>to do list at the end of the day, Before

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<v Speaker 1>you migrate lots of tasks to future days, consider what

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<v Speaker 1>you could actually just get done. Could you finish? Maybe

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<v Speaker 1>you needed to send personalized invitations to twenty five people

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<v Speaker 1>for an event your organization is hosting. You have sent

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<v Speaker 1>invitations to fifteen of them. When your alarm rings to

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<v Speaker 1>tell you it is time to start dinner, could you

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<v Speaker 1>take your laptop down to the kitchen from your home

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<v Speaker 1>office and knock out the last ten invitations while you

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<v Speaker 1>are waiting for the water to boil. Then you don't

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<v Speaker 1>have to push this task to the next day. Or

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<v Speaker 1>you might have intended to go to the dry cleaner

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<v Speaker 1>on your way to work after taking your kids to daycare,

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<v Speaker 1>but you skipped it because you wanted some desk time

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<v Speaker 1>before your first meeting. Could you drop off your dry

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<v Speaker 1>cleaning on the way home from picking up your kids

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<v Speaker 1>in the afternoon, then you don't need to kick it

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<v Speaker 1>forward another day. Perhaps a task isn't time consuming, it

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<v Speaker 1>is just unpleasant and that is why you haven't done it.

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<v Speaker 1>Could you simply resolve to hit send on the difficult

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<v Speaker 1>email before you leave for the day. How great will

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<v Speaker 1>that feel to not have it hanging over your head.

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<v Speaker 1>For a task that is time consuming, perhaps half hour

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<v Speaker 1>after your kids go to bed might give you the

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<v Speaker 1>time to finish it. A relatively short second shift could

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<v Speaker 1>be worth it. It can be easy to keep migrating

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<v Speaker 1>a task day after day from one to do list

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<v Speaker 1>to the next, But if the task wouldn't take that

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<v Speaker 1>long in the first place, then migrating it is probably

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<v Speaker 1>not necessary. If you get into the habit of asking

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<v Speaker 1>yourself whether you could finish, I think few things will happen. First,

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<v Speaker 1>you will get more done because you won't concede defeat

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<v Speaker 1>too early. Often the answer will be yes, I could

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<v Speaker 1>get that done today. Second, your to do list will

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<v Speaker 1>get shorter because tasks will get done instead of constantly accumulating.

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<v Speaker 1>And finally, and perhaps most importantly, you may be more

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<v Speaker 1>productive during the core part of the day If you

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<v Speaker 1>start to expect yourself to finish what you set out

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<v Speaker 1>to do. Asking whether you can finish can help you

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<v Speaker 1>find the middle ground between feeling pressure to complete all

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<v Speaker 1>the tasks on a day's to do list come what may,

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<v Speaker 1>and just feeling that you do what you do and

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<v Speaker 1>you don't do what you don't do. Asking whether you

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<v Speaker 1>can finish means you just might finish, and that can

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<v Speaker 1>be great to see. In the meantime, this is Laura,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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<v Speaker 1>got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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<v Speaker 1>Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.