Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to schedule a pickup. In life, it
Speaker 1: would be great if we didn't need deadlines to force action,
Speaker 1: but the truth is we often do. So when you
Speaker 1: can create a deadline, that might be just the nudgs
Speaker 1: you need to get going. We'll be putting our house
Speaker 1: on the market in the next few months, and so
Speaker 1: we're trying to clear out some of the clutter that
Speaker 1: inevitably builds up in ten years of living somewhere. The
Speaker 1: sale itself will force some of this, but until that point,
Speaker 1: it's always easy to put off cleaning for some other time.
Speaker 1: But a few years ago I realized that there was
Speaker 1: a good way to force myself to get going on
Speaker 1: the clutter clearing. I would schedule a pickup from a
Speaker 1: charity that collects donations from people's houses that would force
Speaker 1: me to have the clothes, books, toys, or furniture I
Speaker 1: wished to get rid of out on the porch by
Speaker 1: that particular scheduled day. We schedule pickups with Green Drop,
Speaker 1: whose collections benefit several different nonprofits, such as the Red cross,
Speaker 1: but there are probably organizations in your neighborhood who will
Speaker 1: do the same thing. If not, you can similarly force
Speaker 1: a deadline by arranging for a friend to come help
Speaker 1: you at a specific time and help bring your donations
Speaker 1: to a processing center. You might be willing to waste
Speaker 1: your own time, but probably not hers, So this version
Speaker 1: of scheduling a pickup will similarly force the issue. When
Speaker 1: I schedule a pickup, I get the donations moving. If
Speaker 1: I don't, I might not. The same philosophy plays out
Speaker 1: in all sorts of ways. Many important things in life
Speaker 1: don't come with automatic deadlines attached, so you need to
Speaker 1: schedule a pickup. That is, create your own deadlines. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's that you want to travel somewhere or write that
Speaker 1: book before an upcoming milestone birthday. If you keep meaning
Speaker 1: to fix up a bathroom, planning a dinner party can
Speaker 1: be a great forcing mechanism. You want the bathroom to
Speaker 1: look nice for your guests, so you block off the
Speaker 1: weekend for a paint job. It's scheduling a pickup in
Speaker 1: a different form. Maybe you've met your yearly deductible for
Speaker 1: healthcare costs, so that can force a deadline for scheduling
Speaker 1: something non urgent but important before the year switches over
Speaker 1: and you reset at zero. And of course we've all
Speaker 1: heard of people finally changing up their wardrobes, getting a
Speaker 1: new haircut, and maybe doing a little teeth whitening or
Speaker 1: botox before a major high school reunion. A suddenly created
Speaker 1: deadline tends to force things to be sure. This schedule
Speaker 1: a pickup method isn't foolproof. I have scheduled to pick
Speaker 1: up and then only gotten the minimum number of boxes
Speaker 1: or bags out there, rather than using the deadline as
Speaker 1: a nudge to be more thorough. Life does get busy,
Speaker 1: but that's still more boxes and bags than would have
Speaker 1: gone out before. So that's something deadlines really do help,
Speaker 1: even if we've created them ourselves. So today, think about
Speaker 1: what you've been putting off in your life. How could
Speaker 1: you create a deadline that feels real enough to inspire you?
Speaker 1: Think this through and you just might get a lot
Speaker 1: more done in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b the number four than breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: At i heart meat dot com that before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.