Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to send a reminder to future you
Speaker 1: when there is something you'd like to remember in the future.
Speaker 1: Don't just trust that you'll remember. Write a note that
Speaker 1: you know you will see, and you increase the chances
Speaker 1: of being able to take action. So I use a
Speaker 1: little paper calendar in addition to my planner. It's where
Speaker 1: I jot down anything time specific that's coming up. I
Speaker 1: keep it open on my desk and look through upcoming
Speaker 1: weeks when I am planning, which I always do on Fridays.
Speaker 1: I buy a new calendar each fall as I start
Speaker 1: to get time specific commitments for the upcoming year. Anyway,
Speaker 1: as I was recently paging through the next few weeks,
Speaker 1: I noticed something curious a post it note on a
Speaker 1: mid November week This post it note had a list
Speaker 1: of children's book titles. It turns out that last Christmas
Speaker 1: I had asked my blog readers for suggestions of good
Speaker 1: kids holiday titles. I wasn't really in a mood to
Speaker 1: read more of those in late December, but I knew
Speaker 1: that come the following November, I'd be looking for some
Speaker 1: new titles to round out our holiday collection. So I
Speaker 1: wrote the titles that looked most promising on a post
Speaker 1: it note and put it on a November week, trusting
Speaker 1: that future me would see it, and sure enough I did. Now, Viously,
Speaker 1: a post it note isn't exactly a high tech or
Speaker 1: fool proof solution, but this was a pretty low stakes matter.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to do my future self a favor
Speaker 1: and give her an answer to the question of, Hey,
Speaker 1: I wonder if there are any good holiday children's books
Speaker 1: I should check out this year. My past self wrote
Speaker 1: that note, and now my current self can act on it.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you can think of various scenarios where it
Speaker 1: might be helpful to send a note to your future self.
Speaker 1: Maybe a friend mentions a great restaurant she tried in
Speaker 1: a nearby town. You know you're going to be there
Speaker 1: on a business trip in March. Put a note in
Speaker 1: your calendar for March with the name of that restaurant.
Speaker 1: You've done your future self the favor of figuring out
Speaker 1: where to eat while you're there. Or maybe you see
Speaker 1: an award that you'd like to apply for the reason
Speaker 1: you are seeing the award is that it was just awarded,
Speaker 1: meaning that they won't be awarding it again for another year.
Speaker 1: But that's fine. You can send a note to future
Speaker 1: you a few months before the ceremony to check in
Speaker 1: on whether this is something you are still interested in doing.
Speaker 1: If so, awesome, you can get going on the application.
Speaker 1: If not, that's fine too. But you won't miss the
Speaker 1: deadline because you forgot about it. You'll see the note
Speaker 1: and you'll need to make an active choice when it
Speaker 1: comes to time. I honestly believe that this ability to
Speaker 1: communicate with our future selves is a superpower. It's a
Speaker 1: superpower that any of us can use, and yet it
Speaker 1: is amazing to me how few people do it regularly.
Speaker 1: You probably will do the stuff you have to do,
Speaker 1: those big, glaring things in life. These reminders to our
Speaker 1: future selves are about the nice to do stuff, those
Speaker 1: things that make life better but are easily lost in
Speaker 1: the clutter. Sending a note to your future self on
Speaker 1: whatever calendar or planner you use allows you to capture
Speaker 1: these ideas. So the next time you think of something
Speaker 1: that it would be great to do in the future,
Speaker 1: don't just let that thought slide. Send a reminder to
Speaker 1: future you for a time when future you can make
Speaker 1: an active decision with that information. Then relax and feel
Speaker 1: happy because you know that you've just increased the chances
Speaker 1: of good things happening in the future. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. You want to