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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 use categories to create variety. When

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Speaker 1: you introduce smart categories into your planning processes, you make

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Speaker 1: it easier to build in lots of different things and

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Speaker 1: not just the usual suspects. Long time listeners will have

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Speaker 1: heard me advised to plan the upcoming week on Friday afternoons.

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Speaker 1: I have been doing this for years and I find

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Speaker 1: it incredibly useful. You may have also heard me suggest

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Speaker 1: creating a priority list for the upcoming week that features

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Speaker 1: three categories. Career, Relationships, self. Career is self explanatory. These

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Speaker 1: are your big fesshional goals. Relationships means things you want

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Speaker 1: to do with family and friends. Self are those things

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Speaker 1: you need or want to do for your own health

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Speaker 1: or pleasure. The reason to make a three category list

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Speaker 1: in your planning is that it turns out to be

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Speaker 1: very difficult to make a three category list and then

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Speaker 1: leave one of the categories blank. Our brains just don't

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Speaker 1: work that way. We see the category, and once there

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Speaker 1: is a category, we assume that something needs to go

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Speaker 1: into it. So using the categories of career, relationships, and

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Speaker 1: self not just you to plan a more balanced life

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Speaker 1: that is straightforward enough. And once you realize this, you

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Speaker 1: can use smart categories for all sorts of other planning.

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Speaker 1: For instance, if you are building a budget, including categories

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Speaker 1: for savings and fun and unexpected expenses means you are

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Speaker 1: highly likely to put at least a few dollars into

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Speaker 1: each of these buckets. Just like that, you have built

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Speaker 1: a wiser and more sustainable financial setup. Or if you're

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Speaker 1: planning a big trip, you might sort your activities into

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Speaker 1: different categories to nudge variety. Let's say you are planning

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Speaker 1: a trip to New York City. The city has great museums,

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Speaker 1: but my guess is that you don't want to spend

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Speaker 1: every minute in a museum, So maybe you create multiple categories.

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Speaker 1: As you are planning art, food, theater experiences, which might

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Speaker 1: mean something like taking the Staten Island Ferry, and outdoors,

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Speaker 1: which could mean visiting the New York Botanical Gardens or

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Speaker 1: Central Park. You and your traveling companions can rainstorm possibilities

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Speaker 1: for each category, and then you can refer to the

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Speaker 1: categorized list as you plan your days. You will see

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Speaker 1: the city in a different way. Some families use categories

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Speaker 1: as they navigate that minefield known as kid birthday gifts.

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Speaker 1: One popular set of categories is something they want, something

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Speaker 1: they need, something to wear, and something to read. The

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Speaker 1: kid doesn't get all books or all video games, or

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Speaker 1: all socks or all towels. If it's a college student

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Speaker 1: setting up a first apartment, variety keeps things interesting or

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Speaker 1: nudges you to think differently. That's why colleges sometimes create

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Speaker 1: distribution requirements by requiring everyone to take a class in

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Speaker 1: the sciences or in literature. You are more likely to

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Speaker 1: expand from your usual first choices. So think about various

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Speaker 1: things you plan in your life. Think about whether introducing

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Speaker 1: a new category or two might encourage you to do

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Speaker 1: things a little differently and introduce some variety. You might

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Speaker 1: be surprised what you come up with once you give

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Speaker 1: yourself a little nudge. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E. The number four then

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Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an

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Speaker 1: email at before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com

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Speaker 1: that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart

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Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite shows. Yeah yeah,