Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to resolve to take one night for you.
Speaker 1: Committing to doing something regularly that is not work and
Speaker 1: is not caring for family members will help make you
Speaker 1: a happier person and may help make the new year
Speaker 1: your best ever. In my most recent book, Tranquility by Tuesday,
Speaker 1: I share nine of my favorite time management rules that
Speaker 1: I think can help anyone make the most of their time.
Speaker 1: These are rules that I find myself sharing over and
Speaker 1: over again. At this point, I have lost track of
Speaker 1: how many times I have told people that they really
Speaker 1: need to take one night per week to do something interesting,
Speaker 1: you know, a hobby. Let me explain a lot of
Speaker 1: adults lives look very similar. Day to day. People get up,
Speaker 1: get the kids ready, go to work, collect their family.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, eat, get the kids
Speaker 1: to bed, then watch TV. It's all the same over
Speaker 1: and over, and there's nothing wrong with this per se,
Speaker 1: But multiple nights a week of it starts to get
Speaker 1: a little tedious. People feel a little dissatisfied. They want
Speaker 1: to spend more time on something interesting, but they're not
Speaker 1: sure how it would work. Often people say they want
Speaker 1: more me time, but then they choose flexible things like
Speaker 1: reading more or taking bubble bats, convinced that it wouldn't
Speaker 1: work for them to do anything more complicated. Now, I
Speaker 1: am not saying you have to do something every night,
Speaker 1: but maybe one night a week. Taking one night a
Speaker 1: week for you still leaves six nights a week for
Speaker 1: the normal rooms. Choose one night during the week to
Speaker 1: do something that is not work and is not caring
Speaker 1: for family. Ideally, this should be something outside your home
Speaker 1: that involves a commitment to other people. You sing in
Speaker 1: a choir or play in a band, play in a
Speaker 1: softball league, run with friends, volunteer at a food bank
Speaker 1: on a particular night. Here's why it should be a commitment.
Speaker 1: As a responsible person, you will make a commitment happen. Sure,
Speaker 1: flexible me time is great, but I can tell you
Speaker 1: that your desire to read more or take more bubble
Speaker 1: baths will bump up against someone else's desire for you
Speaker 1: to do something different with the time. What are you
Speaker 1: going to tell them Your bathtub isn't going anywhere. But
Speaker 1: if you have choir practice at seven o'clock on Thursdays.
Speaker 1: You have a better excuse, the practice will happen, You
Speaker 1: will go, You will reap the benefits this more active
Speaker 1: form of self care. Of course, this means you need
Speaker 1: to choose something you truly enjoy. I love to sing,
Speaker 1: which is why I am currently singing in two choirs.
Speaker 1: I normally sing in at least one for a while.
Speaker 1: I assume that, like me, everybody knew just what they'd
Speaker 1: like to do, but I have since learned that this
Speaker 1: isn't the case. Many grown ups don't actually know what
Speaker 1: they like to do for fun. So if that is you,
Speaker 1: you could resolve to spend the next three to six
Speaker 1: months figuring this out, and then spend the next six
Speaker 1: months of the year implementing it. Yes, it turns out
Speaker 1: that fun takes work, but I imagine you can manage one
Speaker 1: night a week. If you've got young kids, you can
Speaker 1: trade off with a partner or a friend, a neighbor
Speaker 1: or another relative and each of you gets one night off.
Speaker 1: Or you could hire a babysitter, or even look for
Speaker 1: opportunities where the kids are accounted for, like you run
Speaker 1: with friends while your kid is out a gymnastics class.
Speaker 1: But don't assume that it just can't work. Resolve to
Speaker 1: take one night a week for you, and you will
Speaker 1: start really looking forward to that night. It will become
Speaker 1: a tent pole in your week with everything fitting around it.
Speaker 1: You will start to change your story. Life isn't all
Speaker 1: work and chores. You are the kind of person who
Speaker 1: does fun things and that can make this next year
Speaker 1: the best year ever. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.