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 play the tape to the end. Responding
Speaker 1: out of frustration or doing what feels good in the
Speaker 1: moment may have downstream consequences, and it's good to at
Speaker 1: least think of what those might be. Today's tip comes
Speaker 1: from actor Don Cheadle. In an interview, he was asked
Speaker 1: how he'd avoided scandal in his long acting career. His response,
Speaker 1: play the tape to the end. In other words, he
Speaker 1: doesn't do foolish things impulsively because he plays out what
Speaker 1: would unfold as a result of those actions, and then
Speaker 1: he realizes they are probably a bad idea and doesn't
Speaker 1: do them. Behaviors that seem satisfying in the moment can
Speaker 1: ultimately lead to negative outcomes. This is no surprise. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe you're considering exaggerating on your resume a little bit.
Speaker 1: You might be tempted to betray a friend's confidence because
Speaker 1: the story is just so good. Play the tape to
Speaker 1: the end. How is it likely to go? There may
Speaker 1: be consequences to parts of your life that you care about,
Speaker 1: so you want to think about those consequences and not
Speaker 1: just the immediate situation. Even in more mundane situations when
Speaker 1: emotions are high, it's wise to consider the downstream effects
Speaker 1: of the actions you could take. If you send a
Speaker 1: passive aggressive email to a colleague, it might feel good,
Speaker 1: but what's likely to happen next and after that? What
Speaker 1: if your daughter is late getting out the door for
Speaker 1: swimming lessons yet again, and in your irritation, you tell
Speaker 1: her she's just done for the season. Will you feel
Speaker 1: later about the money you paid and the fact that
Speaker 1: she's still not learning to swim, and about having lost
Speaker 1: the one form of exercise she's even mildly interested in.
Speaker 1: When you play the tape to the end, you may
Speaker 1: realize that a behavior that would feel satisfying in the
Speaker 1: moment is likely to lead to an outcome that you'd
Speaker 1: rather avoid. So you can make a choice that will
Speaker 1: leave you happier in the long run, even if it
Speaker 1: requires you to bite your tongue. You can also offer
Speaker 1: this strategy to others. The question isn't whether a particular
Speaker 1: response is warranted or if an activity is fun, it's
Speaker 1: what will result from it, which may not be what
Speaker 1: you want. For kids, you might ask them to think
Speaker 1: this through. What do you think will happen if you
Speaker 1: stay out late the night before your calculus exam? How
Speaker 1: do you think your friend will react if you don't
Speaker 1: actively support her for student council. When we play the
Speaker 1: tape to the end, we weigh our feelings in the
Speaker 1: moment against downstream outcomes. When we do, we are positioned
Speaker 1: to make a decision that our present selves and our
Speaker 1: future selves will be okay with. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.