Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is for things you've just done and that
Speaker 1: you'll do again, but maybe not for a while, make
Speaker 1: notes to next time. These are notes to yourself about
Speaker 1: what you did, what worked well, and what to do differently.
Speaker 1: Don't assume you'll remember everything you won't. Better to record
Speaker 1: insights while they are fresh in your mind. Lots of
Speaker 1: people make notes for next time on recipes. You write
Speaker 1: in the margin of a cookbook. Actually, this took more
Speaker 1: like thirty five minutes, or makes a ton plan to
Speaker 1: share or freeze leftovers. People make notes on the recipes
Speaker 1: because they assume that they will make the recipe again,
Speaker 1: but that they probably won't remember the various insights they
Speaker 1: had the last time they made it. The printed recipe
Speaker 1: provides a natural place for a note that will jog
Speaker 1: your memory. Notes to next time can be helpful in
Speaker 1: other aspects of our lives too. I write down notes
Speaker 1: on the sheet music I use for singing in choir.
Speaker 1: I might think I'll remember that cut off, but I won't.
Speaker 1: Next rehearsal it will be gone. Best to write it in.
Speaker 1: But much of life lacks an obvious instruction sheet, and
Speaker 1: so our insights get lost. We wind up learning things
Speaker 1: the hard way over and over again, or we just
Speaker 1: ordered too many holiday cards over and over again. How
Speaker 1: to avoid this create your own universal note to next
Speaker 1: time about anything you do repeatedly, but fairly rarely. This
Speaker 1: can just be a simple document. You keep going on
Speaker 1: your computer, think broadly about what can go on there.
Speaker 1: Do all your kids wind up doing the same project
Speaker 1: of building a bridge out of popsicle sticks or building
Speaker 1: a pinewood derby car. Note what worked and what you
Speaker 1: learned from the bridges or vehicles that one. If you
Speaker 1: send holiday cards, make a note of how many you ordered.
Speaker 1: We need to get kids passports every few years, and
Speaker 1: so we've got that list of documentation well documented. Sometimes
Speaker 1: apps that seem to understand humans help us remember this
Speaker 1: to some degree. My grub Hub app tells me my
Speaker 1: recent restaurants and shows me what I ordered last time.
Speaker 1: Of course, it doesn't tell me whether I liked it,
Speaker 1: so I need to make a note to myself to
Speaker 1: skip the French fries from that one place. Or just
Speaker 1: because I keep ordering the dragon roll doesn't mean I
Speaker 1: actually like the dragon role. Notes to next time are
Speaker 1: great at work too, particularly for projects or tasks that
Speaker 1: you do just a time or two a year, big events, mailings,
Speaker 1: and the like. Indicate the steps you followed, the colleagues
Speaker 1: who are involved, the timeline, and any thoughts about doing
Speaker 1: things differently. It's also a great idea to have your
Speaker 1: direct reports create notes to next time for any projects
Speaker 1: where they have a key role. That way they get
Speaker 1: the institutional knowledge out of their heads and onto paper,
Speaker 1: so you are not counting on them to remember how
Speaker 1: to perform the task successfully the next time it comes up.
Speaker 1: They've got notes to remind them. And if they're in
Speaker 1: another role or no longer at your organization, when the
Speaker 1: project rolls around again, well, you'll be able to hand
Speaker 1: their successor a summary of what was done last time
Speaker 1: and how to do it even better this time. Notes
Speaker 1: to next time documents enable you to learn from your
Speaker 1: experiences and have a process that gets better each time around.
Speaker 1: So in the coming weeks at work and at home,
Speaker 1: as you handle projects that will come up again in
Speaker 1: the future, make your own notes to next time. You
Speaker 1: will get the full benefit of everything you've learned in
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
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