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Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Today's tip is to plan

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Speaker 1: your weeks on Fridays. So this will probably not surprise you,

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Speaker 1: But I like to plan. Okay, fine, I love to plan.

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Speaker 1: There is nothing I like more than sitting down to

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Speaker 1: plan what I'm going to do with myself, what my

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Speaker 1: family members are going to do with themselves. Shockingly, my

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Speaker 1: family members don't always go along with these plans. Imagine

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Speaker 1: that must be fun to be married to or parented

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Speaker 1: by me. Anyway, just because you're planning doesn't mean you're

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Speaker 1: doing it in the most effective way. A few years ago,

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Speaker 1: I made a change in how I plan that has

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Speaker 1: really made a difference in my life and might be

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Speaker 1: helpful for you as well. So to start my story,

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Speaker 1: A long, long time ago, I read the late Stephen

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Speaker 1: Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It's

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Speaker 1: really a great book if you haven't read it. He

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Speaker 1: talks about planning your life in weeks, and I think

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Speaker 1: this is really smart. Weeks are the cycle of life

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Speaker 1: as we actually live it, not days. I mean, what's

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Speaker 1: a typical day for you? Is it Tuesday or is

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Speaker 1: it Saturday? They both occurred just as often, and they

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Speaker 1: both have the same number of hours, but I'm guessing

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Speaker 1: they look pretty different for you. Weeks give you an

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Speaker 1: accurate picture. So after reading Seven Habits, I started sitting

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Speaker 1: down on Sunday evenings and planning the upcoming week. Then

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Speaker 1: a few years after that, I got the chance to

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Speaker 1: interview David Allen. A lot of listeners of this podcast

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Speaker 1: probably know him as the author of Getting Things Done.

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Speaker 1: That's also a great book. I mentioned my Sunday planning

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Speaker 1: to him, and he told me that a lot of

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Speaker 1: his clients reviewed and planned their weeks on Fridays. So

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Speaker 1: I decided to try Fridays, and specifically Friday afternoons. I'm

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Speaker 1: a big fan of the switch. Sunday planning is great,

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Speaker 1: but Friday afternoon is even better. Here's why. First, I

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Speaker 1: don't know about you, but Friday afternoon is not exactly

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Speaker 1: my peak productivity time. I am usually doing nothing of

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Speaker 1: consequence by Friday afternoon. I am sliding into the weekend.

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Speaker 1: I'm not answering my phone, I am hiding out so

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Speaker 1: no one can find me. It is really hard to

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Speaker 1: start anything new on Friday afternoon, but I can usually

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Speaker 1: summon the energy to think about what future me should

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Speaker 1: be doing. And by taking a few minutes on Friday

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Speaker 1: afternoon to plan the week ahead, I turn what would

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Speaker 1: have been wasted time into some of my most productive

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Speaker 1: minutes of the week. Friday planning also gives me better

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Speaker 1: weekends in two ways. First, even if you love your job,

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Speaker 1: you can always feel a little bit of Sunday trepidation.

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Speaker 1: You know what this is. There's like an avalanche of

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Speaker 1: work waiting for you on Monday, but you don't know

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Speaker 1: exactly what or know how you're going to deal with it.

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Speaker 1: If you make a plan on Sunday night, well, you've

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Speaker 1: spent much of the weekend cohabitating with that sense of unease.

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Speaker 1: If you plan Monday morning on Friday, though, well you've

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Speaker 1: got a plan so you don't have to spend your

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Speaker 1: weekend worrying about it. And just as a side note,

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Speaker 1: if this plan involves meeting with people. Making your plan

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Speaker 1: on Friday means that you can call or email them.

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Speaker 1: They're probably still at their desks so they'll respond, which

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Speaker 1: might not be the case if you try and get

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Speaker 1: in touch with them on Sunday night. Second, if you

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Speaker 1: haven't thought about your weekend, Friday planning gives you a

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Speaker 1: chance to call friends, make reservations, buy tickets, whatever you

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Speaker 1: need to do. This vastly increases the chances that your

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Speaker 1: weekends are awesome rather than forgettable. So if you plan

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Speaker 1: on Fridays and I hope you will, just take a

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Speaker 1: few minutes to think about the week ahead. Make yourself

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Speaker 1: a short three category priority list career, relationships, self. Making

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Speaker 1: a three category list reminds us that you should put

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Speaker 1: something in all three categories. It is pretty hard to

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Speaker 1: make a three category list and then leave one of

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Speaker 1: the categories blank, So that right there is going to

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Speaker 1: nudge you to have a more balanced life. But anyway,

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Speaker 1: just a short list two to three items in each,

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Speaker 1: look at the next week, see where they can go,

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Speaker 1: plan them in. Just like that, you're putting first things

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Speaker 1: first in your life. I think Stephen Covey would approve

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Speaker 1: of that. This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at before Breakfast pod that's B the number

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Speaker 1: four then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot

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Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with follow

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. H