WEBVTT - Make your planning time pay off

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is that by adding one little bit of strategic

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<v Speaker 1>thinking time to your weekly planning session, you can make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that your planning time pays off. Today's tip is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the conversation I had recently with Ben Meir

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<v Speaker 1>for this podcast. Ben is the author of the new book,

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<v Speaker 1>How to Be Good at Life, and he is known

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<v Speaker 1>online as the systems guy. Ben, like me, does weekly planning,

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<v Speaker 1>looking ahead at the upcoming week and seeing what's going on.

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<v Speaker 1>But then he mentioned something you could do if you

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<v Speaker 1>have a few extra minutes of planning time. Look and

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<v Speaker 1>see if there is some aspect of your life where

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<v Speaker 1>you could build a system that would pay off in

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<v Speaker 1>the future. In a few minutes, you might be able

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<v Speaker 1>to solve a nagging problem. And if you keep doing

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<v Speaker 1>this week after week, life is going to be pretty good.

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<v Speaker 1>I really like this idea. When we do our weekly planning,

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<v Speaker 1>we have already set aside a little bit of time

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<v Speaker 1>to think about the future. So why not extend this

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<v Speaker 1>just a bit and solve a future problem? Often in life,

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<v Speaker 1>we know that taking a few minutes to set something

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<v Speaker 1>up might solve a lot of recurring problems. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>if you take a few minutes to think of your

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<v Speaker 1>closest friends and family members and then put their birthdays

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<v Speaker 1>into your calendar and perhaps an alert for a week

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<v Speaker 1>before so you can mail a card, you will never

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<v Speaker 1>forget anyone's birthday again. This will make you seem like

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<v Speaker 1>a much more considerate person. It is not hard to

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<v Speaker 1>do it, but it does take a little bit of time.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's no obvious time to set up this system.

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<v Speaker 1>So people don't. And then your niece is texting you

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<v Speaker 1>from her birthday party and you're like, oh yeah, darn.

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<v Speaker 1>So where do you make the time? You take 10

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<v Speaker 1>minutes after your weekly planning session this week and think

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<v Speaker 1>about that as a system and set it up. Now

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<v Speaker 1>it's done. You can add people as you meet them,

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<v Speaker 1>but at least the initial work is completed and making

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<v Speaker 1>life better. Long-time listeners know I am a big fan

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<v Speaker 1>of planning your upcoming weeks on Fridays. Ben plans his

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<v Speaker 1>weeks on Sundays. He calls them Systems Sundays. And that

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<v Speaker 1>works for him. The truth is the time doesn't matter

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<v Speaker 1>so much as that you actually do it. And if

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<v Speaker 1>you are going to set aside the time to plan,

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<v Speaker 1>why not take a few more minutes to make life

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<v Speaker 1>even better? I am sure if you spend a few

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<v Speaker 1>minutes thinking about it, you could come up with various

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<v Speaker 1>systems that might make sense in your life. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you need a better laundry system. Maybe you realize

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<v Speaker 1>that people are putting clean laundry back in the hampers

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<v Speaker 1>to transfer them, but then sometimes this gets mixed in

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<v Speaker 1>with dirty clothes before everything gets put away. This is

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<v Speaker 1>a problem. So you think about it and order some

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<v Speaker 1>laundry baskets. So those can be the clean signal. Or

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you need to think through your family's 15 favorite

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<v Speaker 1>meals so that you can choose from those when you

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<v Speaker 1>are meal planning for the week. Right after your weekly

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<v Speaker 1>planning is a great time To get that set up.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe you want to be more organized about using points

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<v Speaker 1>and miles for travel. Set up a spreadsheet with what

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<v Speaker 1>you have and how you hope to use all this.

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<v Speaker 1>Some week after your planning time. So start making a list.

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<v Speaker 1>That could be your first post-planning system to think about.

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<v Speaker 1>And then, week after week, you can just choose one.

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<v Speaker 1>Spend a few minutes setting it up. then your future

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<v Speaker 1>self will be thanking you. Again and again. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening. And here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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<v Speaker 1>me at laura.mc. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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