Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that if you can't work, plan, even if
Speaker 1: your current self doesn't feel like doing anything, you might
Speaker 1: be willing to think about what future you should be doing.
Speaker 1: That can turn what might feel like wasted time into
Speaker 1: something far more productive. So longtime listeners know that one
Speaker 1: of my favorite time management rules is to plan your
Speaker 1: upcoming weeks on Friday afternoons. When I tell people about
Speaker 1: this rule, I first explain the idea of planning your
Speaker 1: life in weeks, think about the upcoming one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty eight hours and what's important to you professional and personally.
Speaker 1: I promise that this is a life changing practice. But
Speaker 1: once people have their heads around that, inevitably the follow
Speaker 1: up question is why Friday afternoons. The answer is that
Speaker 1: if you work a Monday to Friday week, it is
Speaker 1: really hard to start anything new on Friday afternoons. Most
Speaker 1: people are drifting into the weekend at that point. But
Speaker 1: if you can't actually execute on any of your priorities,
Speaker 1: at least maybe you can define what those priorities will
Speaker 1: be for upcoming days. And then future you, who hopefully
Speaker 1: has more vim and vigor than Friday, you can tackle them.
Speaker 1: That's why Friday is my weekly planning day. But you
Speaker 1: can convert any low energy time into plan time. We
Speaker 1: have all had those days you meant to work on
Speaker 1: a big project in the afternoon, but you just got
Speaker 1: back from lunch and frankly, you would rather take a nap. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: you work somewhere that this is frowned upon. If that
Speaker 1: is the case, why not use this time for planning
Speaker 1: something else. It could be your full upcoming week, but
Speaker 1: it could just be defining your to do list for tomorrow.
Speaker 1: You could plan your upcoming weekend. Or here's an idea,
Speaker 1: you could do some longer range planning. Make a summer
Speaker 1: fun list, a list of things you'd like to do
Speaker 1: to enjoy your summer and make summer memories. You could
Speaker 1: work on your list of one hundred dreams. This exercise,
Speaker 1: which was shared with me by career coach Caroline Senza
Speaker 1: Levine years ago, is basically a long unedited bucket list.
Speaker 1: You could put items like travel to New Zealand or
Speaker 1: singing Carnegie Hall on there, but you can also put
Speaker 1: stuff like visit that state park that's thirty minutes away
Speaker 1: that you keep meaning to go to but haven't. Or
Speaker 1: it could be trying that new gelato place or replacing
Speaker 1: your leaky coffee maker. If a list of one hundred
Speaker 1: dreams isn't inspiring, you plan something random, like next year's
Speaker 1: Christmas vacation or that hobby themed vacation you want to
Speaker 1: pitch to your best friend. Or if you're like me
Speaker 1: and have to come up with ideas again and again,
Speaker 1: you might look through discarded ideas from last year and
Speaker 1: plan November's podcast topics. Now one of several things might
Speaker 1: happen if you plan when you can't work first. Sometimes
Speaker 1: people find planning energizing. As you picture yourself writing a
Speaker 1: collection of seasonal sonnets, or visiting Iceland or going on
Speaker 1: a full bike ride through the Grand Titans, you might
Speaker 1: start to feel more excited about life. Maybe you'll even
Speaker 1: be excited enough to make a tiny bit of progress
Speaker 1: on whatever project you've been putting off. But if that
Speaker 1: doesn't happen, at least now you've got a cool plan
Speaker 1: for next week or next weekend or next November's podcasts,
Speaker 1: which is something you didn't have before, you may not
Speaker 1: feel like doing anything today but tomorrow's schedule. That is
Speaker 1: a work of art with time allocated to all your priorities.
Speaker 1: You've planned some fun weekend get togethers from now until August.
Speaker 1: You've picked out which operas you want to listen to
Speaker 1: in your car on your commute. Who knows what you
Speaker 1: have planned. When you plan when you can't work, you
Speaker 1: are in fact working, and in many cases you are
Speaker 1: doing higher valw you work than you would have been
Speaker 1: doing anyway. The satisfying life is all about turning intentions
Speaker 1: into reality. If you plan when you can't work, you
Speaker 1: are one step closer to that happening. In the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear 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
Speaker 1: four than Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.