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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I 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 to get it out of your head.

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Speaker 1: That is, write down anything you're not going to do

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Speaker 1: right this minute. In a previous episode, I talked about

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Speaker 1: keeping your to do list short. The reason to do

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Speaker 1: this is that there's no point putting something on a

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Speaker 1: to do list and then not doing it. It's just

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Speaker 1: as undone as if you'd never put it on the

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Speaker 1: list in the first place, only now you feel bad too.

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Speaker 1: Better to have expectations meet reality. The only way to

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Speaker 1: guarantee that happens is to keep your list short. I

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Speaker 1: mentioned that a lot of people really resist this idea.

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Speaker 1: That's because we're responsible for more than three to five

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Speaker 1: things in the universe. So what do you do with

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Speaker 1: the rest of this stuff? How do you keep it

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Speaker 1: from clogging up your brain? How do you make sure

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Speaker 1: you'll remember it in the future. Well, As Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: listener Holly put it in an email to me, you

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Speaker 1: get it out of your head. Holly wrote in her

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Speaker 1: note that while she was going through some very stressful

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Speaker 1: times in her personal life, she began writing down various

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Speaker 1: images and memories that came to her, so she'd have

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Speaker 1: them somewhere but wouldn't have to dwell on them. She

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Speaker 1: later realized that this process was useful for things beyond

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Speaker 1: her ruminations. It was a good idea for managing to

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Speaker 1: do lists in general. So now I have a small

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Speaker 1: notebook and each page has a subject line, she writes,

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Speaker 1: And on that page, I create a list of things

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Speaker 1: I need to remember, things that I need to do,

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Speaker 1: and things I want to do. This takes them out

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Speaker 1: of my head and into a place I can look

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Speaker 1: over several times a day to see what I can

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Speaker 1: take off. That is, when she finds herself with some

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Speaker 1: extra time. She noted that these lists also hold her

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Speaker 1: accountable for steps toward bigger projects. It shows progress, it

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Speaker 1: shows achievements, and it shows olls. She says, So what

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Speaker 1: kind of pages does Holly have in her notebook? She

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Speaker 1: sent me a partial list with all of them. She

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Speaker 1: has pages for tracking holidays taken at work, notes for

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Speaker 1: her lawyer, notes for her doctor, notes about money, general category. Here,

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Speaker 1: she says, I put things I need to do but

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Speaker 1: haven't gotten around to, such as getting the cat micro chipped,

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Speaker 1: meeting up with so and so, etcetera. She has a

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Speaker 1: page for her podcast, a page devoted to holiday destinations,

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Speaker 1: page devoted to therapy that might encompass, things to cover

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Speaker 1: in sessions or exercises she needs to do, shopping lists, makeup.

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Speaker 1: She says, I keep a list of the shades and

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Speaker 1: brands I love so I don't forget, a destination, bucket list,

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Speaker 1: a list for her car which includes general info and

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Speaker 1: renewal dates things like that, a Christmas gift idealist, a

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Speaker 1: dream journal, birthday list, social appointments, etcetera. Holly writes that

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Speaker 1: this may seem like a lot, but each time I

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Speaker 1: need to make room in my head or life, or

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Speaker 1: I'm worried I'll forget a date or a piece of information,

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Speaker 1: I just flipped to that page and note down. It

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Speaker 1: has given me back control and allowed me to stop procrastinating.

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Speaker 1: What Holly discovered is that just because we're not going

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Speaker 1: to do something right now doesn't mean we don't want

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Speaker 1: to know about it or think about it in the future. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, I just made a list in my planner

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Speaker 1: that I'm calling this summer fun list. These are things

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Speaker 1: I want to do over the summer that makes summer

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Speaker 1: feel like summer to me. I put things like eating

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Speaker 1: ice cream at days in Ocean Grove on the New

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Speaker 1: Jersey Shore, going to a Phillies game, going to a

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Speaker 1: beer garden, and listening to music outdoors. None of these

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Speaker 1: things are on my to do list for tomorrow or

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Speaker 1: even for the next week. But as I'm going into

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Speaker 1: summer weekends and thinking about what I might like to do,

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Speaker 1: I'll have this list to look back on. I also

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Speaker 1: have an ongoing list of home projects that we should

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Speaker 1: probably do at some point. If I put clean out

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Speaker 1: the closet on my to do list for this weekend, well,

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Speaker 1: it probably wouldn't get done because it's a full weekend,

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Speaker 1: and then I'd feel bad. But at least now it's somewhere,

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Speaker 1: and what I do feel like I have some time

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Speaker 1: and want to tackle a project, I know which ones

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Speaker 1: have identified as being worth doing. I'd also definitely recommend

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Speaker 1: keeping a t BR list that stands for to be read.

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Speaker 1: Anytime you hear a good book recommendation, don't assume you'll

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Speaker 1: remember it. You won't remember it. Put it on the

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Speaker 1: t BR list. Then when you find yourself stuck with

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Speaker 1: a weight, somewhere you can look at the list, order

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Speaker 1: the e book on your phone and start reading it

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Speaker 1: in your e reading app. Our brains can do all

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Speaker 1: sorts of amazing things, but remembering stuff we need to

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Speaker 1: do in the future is not really one of those things.

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Speaker 1: Or worse, we'll remember the thing at a time when

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Speaker 1: we can do nothing about it. I really should call

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Speaker 1: my accountant about that. Tax issue. Is just not a

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Speaker 1: helpful thing to wake up and pull over at three am,

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Speaker 1: So get it out of your head. Then your head

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Speaker 1: will have room for all sorts of other amazing ideas.

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear about the lists you make. Do

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Speaker 1: you make a lot of them, like Holly, or just

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Speaker 1: a few? Do you keep them in a notebook or

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Speaker 1: an app or somewhere online. You can email me with

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Speaker 1: your ideas at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart media dot com.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: 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 the number four then 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 my

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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