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 build it before you need it.
Speaker 1: If you have a good support system in place, far
Speaker 1: fewer woes turn into disasters. Long time listeners know that
Speaker 1: I have five children, and any working parents soon learns
Speaker 1: that even the best childcare won't be a dent available.
Speaker 1: Your babysitter can get sick or have her own family emergencies.
Speaker 1: Your kid might be slightly sick and thus not able
Speaker 1: to go to school or daycare. Schools can close for weather,
Speaker 1: and sometimes there are half days for various reasons. You
Speaker 1: need backup options. The absolute worst time to be figuring
Speaker 1: out the backup option is when you realize that option
Speaker 1: A is not available at seven thirty am and you
Speaker 1: are giving a presentation to an important group of people
Speaker 1: at thirty am. You need to create a backup system
Speaker 1: at a time when you don't need it, so it
Speaker 1: will be available when you do need it. So it
Speaker 1: goes for many things in life. The whole point of
Speaker 1: an emergency fund is to put away cash when you
Speaker 1: don't desperately need it, so that when you do need
Speaker 1: money you don't have to borrow at high interest rates.
Speaker 1: The worst time to be networking and figuring out who
Speaker 1: in your industry is hiring is when you have just
Speaker 1: lost a job. You want to have those connections in
Speaker 1: place before you need them. You want an emergency kit
Speaker 1: in your car when your car is actually functioning, so
Speaker 1: you have it in the event that the car stops functioning. Yes,
Speaker 1: this sounds like a lot of preparation, but that's just
Speaker 1: how the world works. The good news is that if
Speaker 1: you build systems before you need them, you will probably
Speaker 1: be a lot more relaxed, or at least feel like
Speaker 1: you are able to keep your commitments. I sometimes feel
Speaker 1: like my spend my life thinking through logistics. But the
Speaker 1: upside is that I gave a speech the other morning
Speaker 1: when my family's regular full time nanny was on vacation
Speaker 1: and my husband was traveling because I booked a very
Speaker 1: reliable backup st are for the morning. I know I
Speaker 1: need someone like that in my life, so I work
Speaker 1: to make sure I have someone like that in my life.
Speaker 1: Even if you aren't dealing with the realities of childcare,
Speaker 1: it helps to think this through. What could go wrong?
Speaker 1: What support system do you need in place to allow
Speaker 1: you to do what you need or want to do.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the answer is pretty simple. If your car didn't
Speaker 1: start and you couldn't get to work, you'd likely use
Speaker 1: uber or lift or public transportation if it's available, or
Speaker 1: you'd get a ride from a friend. Sometimes it's more involved.
Speaker 1: If your largest client disappeared, what would you do to
Speaker 1: make your revenue target for the quarter. I have gotten
Speaker 1: stuck at O'Hare Airport due to canceled or late flights
Speaker 1: often enough that I now have a set protocol I follow,
Speaker 1: so I'm not floundering around. I immediately booked myself on
Speaker 1: a six am or seven am flight the next morning.
Speaker 1: Then I book a room at my favorite nearby hotel.
Speaker 1: I'm still annoyed, but not as frantic as the folks
Speaker 1: running around asking what on earth they are going to do.
Speaker 1: Perhaps it seems like a paradox thinking about what could
Speaker 1: go wrong allows you to be optimistic, But if you
Speaker 1: think about it, it makes sense. When you think about
Speaker 1: what could go wrong, you can make plans to deal
Speaker 1: with those possibilities. Then if those things do happen, you
Speaker 1: are prepared. You can stay on track with your goals
Speaker 1: and obligations. Life feels a little more in control, even
Speaker 1: when many things in life cannot be controlled. We control
Speaker 1: what we can when we build it before we need it.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our talks. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from it. 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 E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Yea