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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to make big decisions. You

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Speaker 1: don't want to ruminate on the small stuff. But with

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Speaker 1: anything major, no this your first idea might not be

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Speaker 1: your best idea. You want to give yourself space to

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Speaker 1: pull it over. I've been thinking about this a lot lately,

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Speaker 1: with something that's by no means high stakes but will

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Speaker 1: affect day to day life in my household. People who

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Speaker 1: read my blog or follow me on Instagram know that

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Speaker 1: I'm expecting a fifth baby in January. Now, as my

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Speaker 1: family gets bigger, we've been trying to figure out how

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Speaker 1: to configure our bedrooms and living spaces so everyone is happy.

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Speaker 1: There are lots of options, but every option has upsides

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Speaker 1: and downsides. We could move, but buying and selling houses

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Speaker 1: involves transaction costs. We could stay and have more kids

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Speaker 1: share bedrooms, but some already are sharing and they aren't

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Speaker 1: all thrilled about it. So then there's the possibility of

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Speaker 1: renovating to add more space. My first thought after surveying

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Speaker 1: my house and studying the internet was to finish the

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Speaker 1: attic it's a reasonable idea, but further research revealed that

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Speaker 1: this project would likely involve an architect and lots of

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Speaker 1: permitting and a lot of time and noise. I wasn't

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Speaker 1: sure I had the capacity to manage that. But the

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Speaker 1: good news is that no one needs to make an

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Speaker 1: immediate decision. By thinking about my options before anything is urgent,

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Speaker 1: I can mull over my instincts and ask if they

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Speaker 1: make sense. I can recognize that my first ideas aren't

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Speaker 1: necessarily my best ideas. In time, more ideas might come

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Speaker 1: to me. Indeed, this is exactly what happened. After pondering

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Speaker 1: the attic idea for a while and getting feedback, I

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Speaker 1: decided to look around my house again with an open mind.

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Speaker 1: I realized that the finished basement offered more ready options

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Speaker 1: than the unfinished attic. This project would be much more doable.

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Speaker 1: It would be less expensive and time consuming. Making a

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Speaker 1: decision without intense time pressure allows us to see possibilities

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Speaker 1: In general, in life, I find this to be the case,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes time pressure focuses us, but sometimes it limits us.

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Speaker 1: For instance, one of the worst times to be job

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Speaker 1: hunting is when you really need a job, when you're

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Speaker 1: just passively looking. Because you're already employed, you can really

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Speaker 1: think about whether you like an offer or if you

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Speaker 1: might be able to flush out a different offer by

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Speaker 1: meeting with friends and colleagues at other organizations. When I

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Speaker 1: talk with people who are re entering the workforce after

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Speaker 1: caring for children, I suggest that it be a family

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Speaker 1: priority to give these job seekers the gift of time.

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Speaker 1: If you've been out of the workforce for five years,

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Speaker 1: it's not a huge deal if you start a new

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Speaker 1: job in April or October. But by taking the time

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Speaker 1: pressure off, you increase the chances of finding something you'll

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Speaker 1: craft into a position that works well for you and

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Speaker 1: your family. So how do you build in space to

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Speaker 1: mull it over. You don't want to lose your life

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Speaker 1: to decision makings, but there are ways to structure life

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Speaker 1: to leave space for decisions. It helps to survey upcoming

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Speaker 1: life transitions and events that might necessitate choices. Talk with

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Speaker 1: the people in your life who might be part of

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Speaker 1: these decisions. Ask about their thoughts, Ask for ideas, Ask

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Speaker 1: what other people have done in similar circumstances. Come up

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Speaker 1: with your own ideas, make lists, and then step away,

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Speaker 1: take a vacation, go somewhere for a long weekend, do

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Speaker 1: a more involved volunteer project. I promise that when you

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Speaker 1: come back to your list of options, you'll see it

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Speaker 1: in a new light. Or maybe you'll have more options

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Speaker 1: to add, and the odds are good that one of

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Speaker 1: those options might be better than your first thoughts. You

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Speaker 1: give yourself a huge gift by leaving space to pull

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Speaker 1: it over in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's b E the number four than breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H