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 to take a quick glance forward a
Speaker 1: week or two when you are planning your week. This
Speaker 1: can help you feel more prepared for just about anything.
Speaker 1: Long time listeners know that I am a big fan
Speaker 1: of planning on Friday's. Indeed, plan on Friday's is one
Speaker 1: of my nine core time management rules that I write
Speaker 1: about in Tranquility by Tuesday, my book that will be
Speaker 1: out later this year. On Friday's, take a few minutes
Speaker 1: to plan the week ahead. Think about your top priorities
Speaker 1: in the categories of career, relationships, and self plan when
Speaker 1: you will do these things. Look at what is already
Speaker 1: on your calendar, make a plan to meet any obligations,
Speaker 1: and deal with any tricky spots. That's it, You've got this.
Speaker 1: I have been planning this way for years and it
Speaker 1: helps me hit Monday ready to go. I even enjoy
Speaker 1: my weekends more because I'm not worried about what is
Speaker 1: coming up on Monday. I know what is coming up
Speaker 1: and I have a plan to deal with it. It
Speaker 1: is really the best way I know to calm the
Speaker 1: chaos and make time for what matters. But there is
Speaker 1: one small extra step that is helpful to take when
Speaker 1: you plan your upcoming week. Take a quick glance forward
Speaker 1: through the next week or two to see if there's
Speaker 1: anything major sitting on your calendar. Are there any big
Speaker 1: deadlines you should be thinking about, anything that's going to
Speaker 1: require more than a few hours to prepare for. If so,
Speaker 1: you probably want to devote some time to that on
Speaker 1: the upcoming weeks to do list. The reason is that
Speaker 1: if you have something big do on a Monday or Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and you plan your upcoming weeks on Friday's, you might
Speaker 1: realize the existence of this impending deadline for the first
Speaker 1: time on the Friday, that is, right before the Monday
Speaker 1: or Tuesday. Now, you do still have a few days
Speaker 1: to work on it, so it is better than realizing
Speaker 1: this Sunday night or Monday morning. But you probably don't
Speaker 1: want to get this news on Friday when you are
Speaker 1: sliding into weekend mode, So get in the habit of
Speaker 1: taking a quick look forward a week or two. Most
Speaker 1: things can be dealt with in a few hours, and
Speaker 1: so they can be planned on Friday for the upcoming week.
Speaker 1: But when you flag something that might require a little
Speaker 1: more attention, you can be a bit more proactive. In
Speaker 1: my case, I realized the other day that I have
Speaker 1: scheduled a few interviews with people on Mondays in recent weeks,
Speaker 1: and I like to be respectful of their time, which
Speaker 1: means giving myself a few days to think through the
Speaker 1: best questions to ask. I could do it on Friday
Speaker 1: afternoon for Monday morning, but if I flag it a
Speaker 1: week ahead, I can spend some time on Thursday and
Speaker 1: Friday thinking about it. Most likely the interview will be better,
Speaker 1: or sometimes there won't be anything too out of the
Speaker 1: ordinary coming up, but you can see that a future
Speaker 1: week will be so full that you will want to
Speaker 1: pull a few priorities forward. If the immediately upcoming seven
Speaker 1: days is a lighter week, you could do that. Or
Speaker 1: you can make preparations for smarter relationship building. If you
Speaker 1: see that you are going to a conference in two
Speaker 1: to three weeks, you can make time ahead of time
Speaker 1: to reach out to people and plan to get together.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you will note that one of your kids
Speaker 1: has a half day at school. Maybe you could plan
Speaker 1: ahead to take off early that day or take a
Speaker 1: longer lunch so you can spend some time together. It
Speaker 1: is usually best to know these things a little more
Speaker 1: than a week ahead if you want to keep that
Speaker 1: time clear. Now again, I want to stress that most
Speaker 1: stuff doesn't require this. Your future self will not be incompetent.
Speaker 1: You don't need to lay out outfits, or meal plan
Speaker 1: or even figure out run of the mill work stuff
Speaker 1: more than a few days ahead of time. You will
Speaker 1: be able to figure these things out when you need
Speaker 1: to figure them out. But no one likes to be
Speaker 1: blindsided or wind up with a much heavier workloads some
Speaker 1: week than necessary. Taking a quick glance a week or
Speaker 1: two ahead keeps this from happening. Incorporate this practice into
Speaker 1: your Friday plan inning and you will feel on top
Speaker 1: of things in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot com that before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Yeah