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 about how to do a weekend to
Speaker 1: do list. Well, we all want to relax on weekends,
Speaker 1: but if you have things that need to get done,
Speaker 1: there are certain strategies that can help you accomplish what
Speaker 1: you need to without your feeling like the weekend has
Speaker 1: just disappeared and to have to do stuff. So, if
Speaker 1: you are like me, your weekends probably don't feature a
Speaker 1: ton of open space that you can use for whatever
Speaker 1: you desire. Your kids have activities, and plus they need
Speaker 1: to be fed and cared for. Even if we are
Speaker 1: all just sitting around the house, someone has to be
Speaker 1: with the toddler constantly. Accomplishing anything beyond basic life maintenance
Speaker 1: is doable, but it's challenging. That can be an issue
Speaker 1: because inevitably there are things beyond basic life maintenance that
Speaker 1: do need to be accomplished over the weekend. Maybe some
Speaker 1: task or errand didn't happen during the week, some periodic
Speaker 1: chore like getting the kid's haircut needs to happen, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's an ongoing house project. In my case, I
Speaker 1: am trying to empty out the boxes in the guest
Speaker 1: bedroom so we actually have a usable guest bedroom. Often
Speaker 1: these projects can take any amount of time. We give
Speaker 1: them productive sorts. Know to make to do lists for
Speaker 1: the week, so we make to do lists for the
Speaker 1: weekend too. But sure enough people commit the same to
Speaker 1: do list sins for the weekend to do lists that
Speaker 1: they do on the workday ones The first sin the
Speaker 1: list is overly ambitious. You will not get through a
Speaker 1: six month backlog of home projects this weekend or next
Speaker 1: weekend too. Have you seen how much else is going on?
Speaker 1: Do you think you are going to stumble upon some
Speaker 1: magical well of superhuman energy. You cannot unpack the whole
Speaker 1: guest room and weed the flower bed and plant a
Speaker 1: dozen roses, and fill out all the camp forms and
Speaker 1: read through your employee review files and bake banana bread
Speaker 1: with those bananas that are going bad all before Sunday night.
Speaker 1: When we make lengthy to do lists, we don't get
Speaker 1: through everything on the list. For a to do list
Speaker 1: to work, it needs to be a contract with yourself.
Speaker 1: You are only putting something on the list because you
Speaker 1: actively play in to do it. You plan to do
Speaker 1: it even with everything else that is going on and
Speaker 1: everything else that might come up. That means the list
Speaker 1: needs to be short. The second to do list sin
Speaker 1: is vagueness. To do lists need to be specific, what
Speaker 1: camp forms, which employee review files, how much of the
Speaker 1: guest room are we talking A doable weekend to do
Speaker 1: list might include unpacking two boxes in the guest room,
Speaker 1: making that banana bread, and reviewing one employee file because
Speaker 1: you are meeting with that person on Tuesday and you
Speaker 1: can see that Monday is going to be swamped. Everything
Speaker 1: else is going to have to happen at some other time,
Speaker 1: or maybe it won't happen. Now. That might sound like
Speaker 1: giving up, but I think it is more are discouraging
Speaker 1: to put twenty items on the list and then not
Speaker 1: feel like you've done anything, even if you have done
Speaker 1: a reasonable number of them. If you put three specific
Speaker 1: things on the list, the two boxes, the banana bread,
Speaker 1: and one file, you will probably do them. Then you
Speaker 1: will feel like you are moving forward. You will feel accomplished.
Speaker 1: And when you have done those things, or have identified
Speaker 1: times when you will do those things, then you can
Speaker 1: let yourself off the hook for the rest of the time.
Speaker 1: You don't need to feel bad when you are watching
Speaker 1: your toddler that you aren't reading the rest of the
Speaker 1: employee files. Now, you won't feel relaxed, because watching a
Speaker 1: toddler usually isn't relaxing, but you won't feel like you
Speaker 1: should be doing something else, which tends to be the
Speaker 1: major source of weekend stress. In the meantime. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot
Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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