1
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,720
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:15,200
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,840
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to try out one of the myriad

4
00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,479
Speaker 1: challenges floating around on the internet. These short term guided

5
00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,600
Speaker 1: projects are a great way to get new ideas, and

6
00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,520
Speaker 1: that is true whether you stick with the projects or not.

7
00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,720
Speaker 1: Around the start of the new year, many self help

8
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,520
Speaker 1: experts run challenges. I signed up for a lot of these,

9
00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,880
Speaker 1: the Frugal Woods, Uber, Frugal Month, Apartment Therapies, January Cure,

10
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,760
Speaker 1: Jeremy Derbergh's Begreed. I ran my own time tracking challenge

11
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,200
Speaker 1: during the first week of January, as I do every year.

12
00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:57,000
Speaker 1: I joined another mother runners Many Happy Miles Club. Now

13
00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,520
Speaker 1: I will admit that I have a business reason for

14
00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:01,720
Speaker 1: all this. I'd like to see how other people do

15
00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,120
Speaker 1: email marketing and their courses. But I find it fun

16
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,200
Speaker 1: personally too, because these challenges or day by day plans

17
00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,160
Speaker 1: are also a very easy way to shake things up

18
00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:17,039
Speaker 1: and get some new ideas. For instance, the Many Happy

19
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,360
Speaker 1: Miles program sent me a suggested workout for a recent

20
00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,840
Speaker 1: Monday morning that involved doing hill repeats. I planned to

21
00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,760
Speaker 1: run from eight to eight am anyway, So I decided

22
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,320
Speaker 1: to do a slightly different route than my usual default

23
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,400
Speaker 1: loops and run up and down a hill located next

24
00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,720
Speaker 1: to a nearby nature preserve. I did that four times.

25
00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 1: It was a little out of the ordinary on a

26
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:43,319
Speaker 1: wet winter morning, but I quite enjoyed it. More importantly,

27
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,440
Speaker 1: I remember it this time didn't slip through my fingers.

28
00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:53,360
Speaker 1: I probably wouldn't have tried a different run without the suggestion.

29
00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,279
Speaker 1: Now I should be clear here I am not doing

30
00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,600
Speaker 1: all the suggested workouts. In some cases with the challenges,

31
00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,480
Speaker 1: I'm not planning to do many of the suggested activities

32
00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,200
Speaker 1: at all. For instance, I'm pretty frugal already, so I

33
00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,320
Speaker 1: am not going to argue with my husband that he

34
00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,680
Speaker 1: needs to comparison chop for eggs at three different grocery stores. However,

35
00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,720
Speaker 1: in the Frugal Woods case, the Uber Frugal Month challenge

36
00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,120
Speaker 1: links to old blog posts from say, two thousand fifteen,

37
00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 1: that I never would have dug up on my own.

38
00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,240
Speaker 1: And these can be still entertaining to read and more

39
00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,400
Speaker 1: upbeat and interesting to read while I'm feeding a baby. Then, oh,

40
00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:37,560
Speaker 1: coronavirus headlines. Since many challenges are free or at least

41
00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:41,120
Speaker 1: relatively cheap, they can be worth it even if you

42
00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: get one good idea or get motivated to do something

43
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,360
Speaker 1: that you might not have done otherwise. Maybe you finally

44
00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,399
Speaker 1: sort through that band of old mittens or that overflowing juncture.

45
00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,760
Speaker 1: Maybe you set up automated transfers to your retirement account. Well,

46
00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,000
Speaker 1: that would be a huge one. Or maybe, like me,

47
00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:06,040
Speaker 1: you just try a different workout now. I would caution

48
00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,120
Speaker 1: that for all of this you have to know yourself.

49
00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,000
Speaker 1: I am perfectly happy to pick and choose from anything

50
00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:16,880
Speaker 1: people tell me to do guilt free. But if you

51
00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:18,840
Speaker 1: know that you are going to feel bad if you

52
00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,520
Speaker 1: don't do absolutely everything you are told to do in

53
00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,520
Speaker 1: a challenge, then you should either skip these sorts of

54
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,679
Speaker 1: programs or choose just one to focus on at any

55
00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:33,119
Speaker 1: given point. That way, you don't get overwhelmed. No one

56
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,640
Speaker 1: is going to clean out their entire apartment, save thousands

57
00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:40,000
Speaker 1: of dollars, finish a new training program, and read War

58
00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 1: in Peace all at the same time, or if you do,

59
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,760
Speaker 1: you should be hosting this podcast, not me. But if

60
00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:49,960
Speaker 1: you're willing to take what you like and leave the rest,

61
00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,320
Speaker 1: then there is very little to lose. So why not

62
00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,280
Speaker 1: ask friends for suggestions, or watch to see if people

63
00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:00,960
Speaker 1: mention challenges on your favorite websites. You just might light

64
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,920
Speaker 1: a fire under yourself to go further with a project.

65
00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,280
Speaker 1: Or hey, you might find a running route that you'd

66
00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:13,440
Speaker 1: be willing to run again. In the meantime, This is Laura.

67
00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,720
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

68
00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:27,200
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

69
00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,119
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

70
00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,440
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

71
00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:40,000
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast

72
00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,120
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

73
00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,039
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com

74
00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,560
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

75
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:52,240
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

76
00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,200
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

77
00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,320
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart

78
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,760
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

79
00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:13,440
Speaker 1: favorite shows. Yeah,