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 to take the friendship challenge. By nudging
Speaker 1: yourself to put more social time on the calendar, you
Speaker 1: can start having a lot more to look forward to.
Speaker 1: When I have people track their time, they are often
Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised to see how much time they spend with
Speaker 1: their children. Friends, on the other hand, are a different matter.
Speaker 1: When people get busy with building careers and raising young families,
Speaker 1: it can be hard to maintain, let alone start friendships adults.
Speaker 1: Only time might be rationally spent with your spouse. Most
Speaker 1: people do want to stay married, so friendships fall to
Speaker 1: the bottom of the already list, and that is too
Speaker 1: bad because maintaining friendships doesn't actually need to consume that
Speaker 1: much time, or to put it in a slightly nicer way,
Speaker 1: the payoff for even small bits of time can be
Speaker 1: huge in terms of happiness. Consciously investing one to two
Speaker 1: hours per week in adult friendships can change your narrative.
Speaker 1: Life isn't a slog. Good things are happening. So here's
Speaker 1: my challenge. Aim to put four get togethers with friends
Speaker 1: on your calendar over the next thirty days. Here's how
Speaker 1: it can work. Think about who you genuinely enjoy seeing
Speaker 1: or at least enjoy talking to by phone or zoom
Speaker 1: for far away friends. Look at your calendar for the
Speaker 1: next thirty days, think about what might make sense. Then
Speaker 1: start issuing invitations. Call or text people, and propose specific
Speaker 1: times to get together. Indeed, you might best propose a
Speaker 1: primary slot and a backup slot in case the first
Speaker 1: one doesn't work. You know everybody is busy. These time
Speaker 1: frames don't have to be the obvious ones, like Saturday night.
Speaker 1: Saturday night can be complicated for people with young kids. Instead,
Speaker 1: you could have people over with their families for a
Speaker 1: casual Friday or Sunday dinner. You could meet a friend
Speaker 1: for breakfast. You could meet up with a friend who
Speaker 1: has similarly aged kids at a playground. You could go
Speaker 1: run at six am some morning with a friend. You
Speaker 1: could have lunch with a colleague you genuinely enjoy. You
Speaker 1: could set up a post kid bedtime drink by zoom
Speaker 1: with your old college roommate. The point is to get
Speaker 1: at least four of these on the calendar. If you
Speaker 1: already have some regular things like a monthly book club.
Speaker 1: Great challenge yourself to add just a little bit more. Yes,
Speaker 1: sometimes life intervenes, but if you put four things on
Speaker 1: the calendar, the odds are reasonable that two or three
Speaker 1: will happen. And having two to three cool things both
Speaker 1: to look forward to and to enjoy as they are happening,
Speaker 1: can change your entire perspective. I know life can be hard.
Speaker 1: The news is depressing now as it almost always is,
Speaker 1: but we can still find pockets of beauty. Taking the
Speaker 1: friendship challenge can nudge that along. So start making plans
Speaker 1: and get ready to enjoy the next thirty days a
Speaker 1: lot more. I promise it will be worth the effort.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: 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 E the number four then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A Ye