WEBVTT - Plan and reflect together

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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 plan and reflect at about the same time.

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<v Speaker 1>Just as it's important to figure out how you'd like

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<v Speaker 1>to spend your time, reflecting on where the time really

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<v Speaker 1>went can make better planning choices possible in the future.

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<v Speaker 1>Longtime listeners know that I think everyone should have a

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<v Speaker 1>designated weekly planning time. I like the idea of planning

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<v Speaker 1>on Fridays for the upcoming week, but the key is

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<v Speaker 1>that you have some regular time where you'd look forward,

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<v Speaker 1>figure out your priorities, figure out the logistics, and get

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<v Speaker 1>clear on what you need and want to do. It

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<v Speaker 1>is fine to just do this looking forward, but if

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<v Speaker 1>you want to get the most out of your planning sessions,

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<v Speaker 1>it might help to take just two minutes or so

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<v Speaker 1>to look back on the previous week. Look at your

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<v Speaker 1>priority list. Did everything happen if so, awesome? If not?

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<v Speaker 1>Why not? Was the list too ambitious? Was life too unpredictable?

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<v Speaker 1>Did you decide you didn't want to do something or

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<v Speaker 1>it wasn't the best use of your time. Did something

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<v Speaker 1>take a lot longer than you expected? Or perhaps less

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<v Speaker 1>time than you expected. There are a few upsides to

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<v Speaker 1>looking back. One is that if something didn't happen, you

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<v Speaker 1>can make a choice about whether to assign it to

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<v Speaker 1>the next week, or maybe you can make it happen,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe you can make it happen in the next

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<v Speaker 1>thirty minutes or so if you like. It's a reminder

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<v Speaker 1>of what you thought was important and becomes a moment

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<v Speaker 1>to choose whether to continue with that thought or change it.

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<v Speaker 1>The second upside, though, is just more practice at figuring

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<v Speaker 1>out how long things take. Time. Estimation is hard. It

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<v Speaker 1>is hard to know exactly what will fit in a week.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you look back and see what did fit

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<v Speaker 1>in a week, and you do this again and again,

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<v Speaker 1>you will get a better sense of what can fit

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<v Speaker 1>in a week in the future. I know that for

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<v Speaker 1>me this has been a real upside of a dedicated

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<v Speaker 1>weekly planning practice for many decades. Now I look back

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<v Speaker 1>on what I did, and that lets me know what

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<v Speaker 1>I can do. I tend to make more restrained choices

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<v Speaker 1>for the upcoming week than I might have because I

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<v Speaker 1>know that stuff can come up. Stuff always comes up.

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<v Speaker 1>When I'm more careful about assigning myself work for the week.

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<v Speaker 1>That means I probably will get everything crossed off by

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<v Speaker 1>the end of the week. I have a long working

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<v Speaker 1>list of other priorities, so I can always go pull

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<v Speaker 1>something from that if I have extra time. But long

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<v Speaker 1>term reflecting and planning means that the amount of stuff

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<v Speaker 1>I plan to do tends to match the amount of

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<v Speaker 1>time I have. But long term reflecting and planning means

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<v Speaker 1>that the amount of stuff I plan to do tends

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<v Speaker 1>to match the amount of time I have. Not always,

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<v Speaker 1>but mostly you can do this for shorter planning periods too.

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<v Speaker 1>I tend to create my to do list for the

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<v Speaker 1>next day at the end of each work day. This

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<v Speaker 1>also gives me a chance to look over the list

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<v Speaker 1>for the day that just ended. Did I get through everything,

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<v Speaker 1>did I have a lot of extra time, or was

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<v Speaker 1>I perhaps racing to get through things. This helps me

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<v Speaker 1>make rational choices for the next day, and I think

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<v Speaker 1>it can help you make good choices for your to

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<v Speaker 1>do list too. Sometimes people find planning and creating priority

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<v Speaker 1>lists to be a source of strung because they don't

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<v Speaker 1>get through everything and that makes them feel behind. Reflection

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<v Speaker 1>helps build in a check on this. You know that

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<v Speaker 1>last week and the week before, and the week before

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<v Speaker 1>there was a certain amount of space. Most likely that

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<v Speaker 1>will be the case for the next week too. Planning

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<v Speaker 1>and reflection go hand in hand, so take just a

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<v Speaker 1>moment to reflect and your planning will be a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more effective. In the meantime, This is Laura, Thanks for listening,

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<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

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<v Speaker 1>vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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