Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to make big decisions. You
Speaker 1: don't want to ruminate on the small stuff. But with
Speaker 1: anything major, no this your first idea might not be
Speaker 1: your best idea. You want to give yourself space to
Speaker 1: pull it over. I've been thinking about this a lot lately,
Speaker 1: with something that's by no means high stakes but will
Speaker 1: affect day to day life in my household. People who
Speaker 1: read my blog or follow me on Instagram know that
Speaker 1: I'm expecting a fifth baby in January. Now, as my
Speaker 1: family gets bigger, we've been trying to figure out how
Speaker 1: to configure our bedrooms and living spaces so everyone is happy.
Speaker 1: There are lots of options, but every option has upsides
Speaker 1: and downsides. We could move, but buying and selling houses
Speaker 1: involves transaction costs. We could stay and have more kids
Speaker 1: share bedrooms, but some already are sharing and they aren't
Speaker 1: all thrilled about it. So then there's the possibility of
Speaker 1: renovating to add more space. My first thought after surveying
Speaker 1: my house and studying the internet was to finish the
Speaker 1: attic it's a reasonable idea, but further research revealed that
Speaker 1: this project would likely involve an architect and lots of
Speaker 1: permitting and a lot of time and noise. I wasn't
Speaker 1: sure I had the capacity to manage that. But the
Speaker 1: good news is that no one needs to make an
Speaker 1: immediate decision. By thinking about my options before anything is urgent,
Speaker 1: I can mull over my instincts and ask if they
Speaker 1: make sense. I can recognize that my first ideas aren't
Speaker 1: necessarily my best ideas. In time, more ideas might come
Speaker 1: to me. Indeed, this is exactly what happened. After pondering
Speaker 1: the attic idea for a while and getting feedback, I
Speaker 1: decided to look around my house again with an open mind.
Speaker 1: I realized that the finished basement offered more ready options
Speaker 1: than the unfinished attic. This project would be much more doable.
Speaker 1: It would be less expensive and time consuming. Making a
Speaker 1: decision without intense time pressure allows us to see possibilities
Speaker 1: In general, in life, I find this to be the case,
Speaker 1: and sometimes time pressure focuses us, but sometimes it limits us.
Speaker 1: For instance, one of the worst times to be job
Speaker 1: hunting is when you really need a job, when you're
Speaker 1: just passively looking. Because you're already employed, you can really
Speaker 1: think about whether you like an offer or if you
Speaker 1: might be able to flush out a different offer by
Speaker 1: meeting with friends and colleagues at other organizations. When I
Speaker 1: talk with people who are re entering the workforce after
Speaker 1: caring for children, I suggest that it be a family
Speaker 1: priority to give these job seekers the gift of time.
Speaker 1: If you've been out of the workforce for five years,
Speaker 1: it's not a huge deal if you start a new
Speaker 1: job in April or October. But by taking the time
Speaker 1: pressure off, you increase the chances of finding something you'll
Speaker 1: craft into a position that works well for you and
Speaker 1: your family. So how do you build in space to
Speaker 1: mull it over. You don't want to lose your life
Speaker 1: to decision makings, but there are ways to structure life
Speaker 1: to leave space for decisions. It helps to survey upcoming
Speaker 1: life transitions and events that might necessitate choices. Talk with
Speaker 1: the people in your life who might be part of
Speaker 1: these decisions. Ask about their thoughts, Ask for ideas, Ask
Speaker 1: what other people have done in similar circumstances. Come up
Speaker 1: with your own ideas, make lists, and then step away,
Speaker 1: take a vacation, go somewhere for a long weekend, do
Speaker 1: a more involved volunteer project. I promise that when you
Speaker 1: come back to your list of options, you'll see it
Speaker 1: in a new light. Or maybe you'll have more options
Speaker 1: to add, and the odds are good that one of
Speaker 1: those options might be better than your first thoughts. You
Speaker 1: give yourself a huge gift by leaving space to pull
Speaker 1: it over in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and 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 than breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H