1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:16,240 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: tip is to build in life maintenance time. Running a household, 4 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: or even just your own life is a real job 5 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: that takes real space in a schedule. You can wish 6 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: that that weren't the case, but it is wiser to 7 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: simply build in time to manage what needs to be managed, 8 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 1: because then you will feel less stressed about the whole thing. 9 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: So today's tip is based on a listener question that 10 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: we received on my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds. 11 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: A listener worked for a local government agency and needed 12 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: to be in her office from eight to four thirty 13 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: each day with a thirty minute lunch. I understood from 14 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: the question that she didn't really have the ability to 15 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: do any personal tasks during her work hours since she 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: had a house and three kids, things like teacher emails, 17 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:20,320 Speaker 1: permission slips, making appointments, calling contractors, or even scheduling a 18 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: haircut for herself, or just stacking up, and she felt overwhelmed. 19 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: I know this is a common problem. One of the 20 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: real benefits of working for myself and working flexibly is 21 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: having the freedom to home from work, as I sometimes 22 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: call it, as opposed to working from home, even though 23 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 1: I have a home office, so I guess I'm really 24 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: homing from home. If I need to buy a kid 25 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: a coat, I can do that at two thirty PM 26 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: and it is all fine. Sometimes I get annoyed at 27 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: the volume of household management stuff that stacks up, but 28 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: I am not going to get fired for attending to it. 29 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: I know that is not universally the case at all. 30 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: Some jobs simply do not allow for doing anything else 31 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: while you are actively working. If you are doing dental 32 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: procedures or driving a bus or directing traffic, you are 33 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: not going to be purchasing that coat online while people 34 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: drive into each other in that intersection. Some employers also 35 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: maintain much stricter rules about time and place and outside 36 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: information than others. Sometimes this is for good reasons, like 37 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: security clearances. Sometimes it isn't, but it is what it is. Alas, 38 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: people in these less flexible jobs do not magically get 39 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: a pass from doing home and life maintenance things, so 40 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: when do you do them? The answer is that you 41 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: have to figure out a time that does work with 42 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: your life life and with your job, and block that 43 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: in treat this life and household maintenance time as work 44 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: hours just like your other work hours, because it is 45 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: actual work, so in the best of both worlds listener 46 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: case I advised her to set aside four thirty to 47 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,079 Speaker 1: five pm a few days a week as official life 48 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: maintenance time. She likely couldn't do this work at her office, 49 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: but she could use her personal phone in her car 50 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: to do these tasks sitting there in the parking lot 51 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: if need be, or if there were another space like 52 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: a library or a coffee shop or a mall with 53 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: a seating area nearby, she could go there. She could 54 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: write down tasks as they occurred to her during the day, 55 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: or give herself assignments during a weekly planning session. Then 56 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: during her life maintenance time, she would go through the 57 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: tasks one by one and cross them off. The key 58 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: was that she needed to figure out how the rest 59 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: of her life could support that. For a lot of 60 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: working parents, one of the primary considerations is childcare to 61 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: cover this time. If her kids were at daycare or 62 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: after school care, or with a sitter, or with her 63 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: partner or another relative, then she needed to see if 64 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: this time could be extended to allow her to use 65 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: this four thirty to five window a few days a week. Now, 66 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: I know that seems not fun, it's not really happy hour, 67 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,359 Speaker 1: and it's also a little sad to miss a little 68 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: family time. But kid care is both about being with 69 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: them and managing the logistics of their lives. Her little 70 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: bit of extra work would allow her to do both. 71 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: In her case, the four thirty to five window was 72 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: particularly nice as it was still during business hours. I 73 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: know some people work, say nine to five, I have 74 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: thirty with a thirty minute lunch or something like that. 75 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: If so, you can still do a lot of the 76 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: work outside business hours at a designated time. But then 77 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: you will need to make a list of anything that 78 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: can absolutely only be done during business hours and devote 79 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: say ten minutes of your lunch break to these tasks 80 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: a few times a week. Some could stack up for 81 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: a day off. Sometimes people in inflexible jobs do get 82 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: some personal days as part of their contracts. It might 83 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 1: be worth thinking strategically about how to use some of 84 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 1: those for longer term tasks. Life administration is work like 85 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: any other kind of work. Being able to do it 86 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: during working hours does make it easier to combine work 87 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:54,839 Speaker 1: in life. But if that is not possible. Unfortunately, the 88 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: work doesn't disappear. You'll need to figure out a different 89 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: time that works for you, but do build it in. 90 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 1: You will feel a lot less overwhelmed as a result. 91 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and 92 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for 93 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, 94 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. 95 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts 96 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 97 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:48,159 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.