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, like another one this week, is to engage
Speaker 1: in a bit of mental time travel. Picture yourself a
Speaker 1: year from now. What do you hope daily life will
Speaker 1: be like. Making some reasonable hopes can give you ideas
Speaker 1: on how to make those hopes come to be. This
Speaker 1: episode is first airing in late August. Many children go
Speaker 1: back to school around this time of year, and so
Speaker 1: the changing seasons and slanting light carry with them a
Speaker 1: sense of time passing. Children move up a grade, and
Speaker 1: so you can see progress in their lives as they
Speaker 1: learn new schedules or go to new schools. It is
Speaker 1: reasonable to expect that a child who is starting fourth
Speaker 1: grade this fall will be starting fifth grade next fall.
Speaker 1: But in adult life, all of this is less obvious.
Speaker 1: It is not always clear if we are moving forward
Speaker 1: or backwards or sideways. And while we might think about
Speaker 1: big things that will be different, our lives are lived
Speaker 1: in hours, and the day to day experience of our
Speaker 1: hours can change a lot about our happiness. I maintain
Speaker 1: that many big things are changeable in a year, but
Speaker 1: I suspect that from many listeners, the big pieces of
Speaker 1: your life are probably good. You are in a good job,
Speaker 1: you love your friends and family. What tends to spark
Speaker 1: annoyance are the little things. The meetings that go on
Speaker 1: too long, the copious emails, the commute that features too
Speaker 1: much traffic and probably doesn't have to happen as many
Speaker 1: times as it does, that the kids wine for screens,
Speaker 1: and that you are not getting enough time for your
Speaker 1: own hobbies. So let's look at those. Picture yourself in
Speaker 1: a year. Think about what a typical day would look like.
Speaker 1: What about a normal Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. What would
Speaker 1: you be doing. Maybe you are fantasizing about a quiet
Speaker 1: morning cup of coffee, or maybe you are fantasizing about
Speaker 1: enjoying a conversation with a friend or family member. Maybe
Speaker 1: something about the way you get ready has changed. Maybe
Speaker 1: you are spending more work time on particular projects. What
Speaker 1: are you eating for lunch and what is your lunch
Speaker 1: experience like? What sort of breaks do you take during
Speaker 1: the day. What do your evenings look like? Maybe you
Speaker 1: are making time to read or for some interest that
Speaker 1: you feel doesn't get your time now, what does your
Speaker 1: bedtime ritual look like, or you're sleeping situation. I don't
Speaker 1: know the answer for any of these questions for you,
Speaker 1: but really picturing yourself one year from now allows you
Speaker 1: to figure out what is realistic. Most of us don't
Speaker 1: imagine ourselves in flying cars a year from now, and
Speaker 1: we recognize that we probably won't have earned a new
Speaker 1: four year degree in one year. We can picture ourselves
Speaker 1: as ourselves, but we can see what might be a
Speaker 1: little bit different, and that can allow us to think
Speaker 1: about changes that would help bring that future about. If
Speaker 1: you want to do different work at your company, you
Speaker 1: can work on convincing your organization that this is the
Speaker 1: right path. If you fantasize about sleeping in a less
Speaker 1: cluttered bedroom, you can work on clearing it out and
Speaker 1: prettying it up. If you normally eat at your desk,
Speaker 1: but your future self is having a lovely looking sandwich
Speaker 1: in the park, well time to start building that habit.
Speaker 1: Maybe it won't happen every day. It probably won't happen
Speaker 1: every day, but in a year, if you make it
Speaker 1: a priority, I'm guessing you can start eating that way
Speaker 1: more often than not. So as the new school year
Speaker 1: starts and the seasons change. Think about what you would
Speaker 1: like your life to look like when the season's change
Speaker 1: a year from now. The big pieces will likely be
Speaker 1: the same, but some things will be different. What will
Speaker 1: those things be? Now you know what to work on
Speaker 1: and you can give the next year some real purpose.
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 the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.