Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when you are facing a challenging time,
Speaker 1: figure out whether the difficulty is for now or forever.
Speaker 1: You can deal with just about anything for a short
Speaker 1: period of time, but if the hardship is more long term,
Speaker 1: you may need to come up with a different sort
Speaker 1: of plan. So we have all had times when we
Speaker 1: felt especially stretched or challenged. Maybe your workload at your
Speaker 1: job went from manageable to massive, Or maybe your spouse
Speaker 1: got a new job and it's requiring more travel than
Speaker 1: either of you anticipated. Maybe your mom had a fall
Speaker 1: and now she has a hip replacement and rehab in
Speaker 1: her future. It's a lot for her and for you.
Speaker 1: Maybe the new semester has felt like a whirlwind. You
Speaker 1: feel like all your waking hours are spent working, driving,
Speaker 1: picking up drop balls, and recalibrating your schedule for the
Speaker 1: next day. So when you are feeling this way, ask
Speaker 1: yourself this question, is this difficulty temporary or is it
Speaker 1: the new normal? When you know whether an issue is
Speaker 1: for now or forever, you can decide how to navigate it.
Speaker 1: When you know a difficulty or time crunch is for
Speaker 1: the moment, you can view it as a sprint to
Speaker 1: be gotten through. You can do virtually anything for a
Speaker 1: week or even a semester or so if you know
Speaker 1: it's limited. For instance, if your childcare provider is taking
Speaker 1: two weeks off to care for a relative after surgery,
Speaker 1: you can probably piece together a patchwork of others, sitters, relatives,
Speaker 1: and PTO days to make it work. It will be stressful,
Speaker 1: for sure, but for two weeks you can survive. Same
Speaker 1: If you have a busy season at work, you might
Speaker 1: be down a team member, but once someone new is
Speaker 1: hired and trained, your workload will be manageable again. Or
Speaker 1: maybe your team will stay the same size, but the
Speaker 1: volume of work will decrease once you finish a big project.
Speaker 1: Or it may be that every year at this time
Speaker 1: you work your tailoff. You can work at maximum capacity
Speaker 1: one month every year and be okay, even if you
Speaker 1: couldn't produce at that rate sustainably. Part of getting through
Speaker 1: a temporary difficult season may be putting off everything that
Speaker 1: is not urgent. For instance, if you have a big
Speaker 1: work deadline next week, cleaning the house, finding a roofer,
Speaker 1: and processing, non org work, email can all wait. You
Speaker 1: can deal with all of those things once the work
Speaker 1: deadline is behind you. When a difficulty is temporary, you
Speaker 1: can also ask friends and family for help. You can
Speaker 1: feel free to cancel or reschedule plans until after the
Speaker 1: difficult season. When a difficulty or time crunch is ongoing, though,
Speaker 1: you will need to approach it differently. You can't just
Speaker 1: shoulder through difficulty forever. Eventually all those things you put
Speaker 1: off will need to happen, and eventually you can't cobble
Speaker 1: together solutions. If your job is going to be incredibly
Speaker 1: demanding for the foreseeable future, you need to find ways
Speaker 1: to be as efficient with your work as possible. Maybe
Speaker 1: you need to argue for more team members or longer deadlines.
Speaker 1: You may also have to find ways to reduce the
Speaker 1: time you spend on life maintenance. Or maybe you'll decide
Speaker 1: you need to find a new job. But one way
Speaker 1: or another, you will have to get back to sustainability.
Speaker 1: If your nanny decides not to return after that short
Speaker 1: caregiving leave, you will need to find a new nanny
Speaker 1: or to find another full time child care solution. You
Speaker 1: can't have a patchwork of care forever. If your mom
Speaker 1: isn't able to cook or take care of her home
Speaker 1: independently anymore, and you realize that you can't do that
Speaker 1: single handedly while working and taking care of your kids,
Speaker 1: you're going to have to come up with another plan.
Speaker 1: Do you need to get into a rotation with your siblings,
Speaker 1: could you hire a home health aid, or does your
Speaker 1: mom need to move into a retirement community. A forever
Speaker 1: difficulty requires an intentional decision and a long term solution.
Speaker 1: When a difficulty is ongoing, you'll also want to find
Speaker 1: ways to engage with your friends and family and away
Speaker 1: that is more reciprocal. Your neighbor will drive carpool for
Speaker 1: a few weeks and a pinch, but probably won't be
Speaker 1: willing to single handedly drive the carpool for the rest
Speaker 1: of time. If you are never going to be able
Speaker 1: to drive, then you will need to hire someone to
Speaker 1: take this over. Likewise, when your schedule is crunched for
Speaker 1: as far as you can see, you don't want to
Speaker 1: cancel your weekly brunch with your best friend forever and
Speaker 1: leave it at that. You'll need to find some other
Speaker 1: way to stay connected. So if you find yourself facing
Speaker 1: a difficult season, take a breath and figure out whether
Speaker 1: the difficulty or time crunch is temporary or permanent. Then
Speaker 1: with that knowledge you can navigate it more wisely in
Speaker 1: a way that makes sense for you and the people
Speaker 1: around you. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.