WEBVTT - Second Cup: Map out your time line

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to map out your timeline. By figuring out

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<v Speaker 1>all the steps in a project, and when you might

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<v Speaker 1>be able to do each step, you can have a

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<v Speaker 1>much better sense of whether something is doable. And you

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<v Speaker 1>will have a much better shot at success if you

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<v Speaker 1>do give the project a whirl. We are coming toward

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<v Speaker 1>the end of this year, which means I am nearing

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<v Speaker 1>the end of this year's project of listening to all

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<v Speaker 1>the works of Bach. I have really enjoyed doing this project,

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<v Speaker 1>but key to making this project work was having a plan. First,

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<v Speaker 1>I needed to know that there were 1,080 works in

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<v Speaker 1>the official BWV catalog. There are a few more fragments

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<v Speaker 1>and lost works and misattributed works, but we don't need

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<v Speaker 1>to become esoteric scholars here. 1,080 sounded good enough. Then

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<v Speaker 1>I needed to know how to split the listening each day. Well, theoretically,

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<v Speaker 1>you could just do three each day. Some of Bach's

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<v Speaker 1>works are much longer than others, and some of the

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<v Speaker 1>long ones are right next to each other in the catalog.

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<v Speaker 1>Listening to the St. Matthew's Passion and St. John's Passion

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<v Speaker 1>back-to-back would be more than four hours of listening, whereas

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<v Speaker 1>listening to three chorales back-to-back might be less than three minutes.

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<v Speaker 1>So probably marching straight through wouldn't work. I also realized

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<v Speaker 1>that I would like some variety. Bach wrote choral works,

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<v Speaker 1>organ works, orchestral works, but the BWV numbers put all

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<v Speaker 1>of the works of a kind together. So I created

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<v Speaker 1>a schedule assigning myself different BWV numbers from different parts

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<v Speaker 1>of the catalog each day, which totaled about 30 to

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<v Speaker 1>40 minutes of listening. How did I know the listening time?

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<v Speaker 1>I searched for each BWV number and saw how long

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<v Speaker 1>the performances were. Creating this calendar took a fair amount

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<v Speaker 1>of work, but I would do one to two months

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<v Speaker 1>at a time, so it was never overwhelming. Then I

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<v Speaker 1>would just spot check that I was on track. After

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<v Speaker 1>two months, would I have been listening to about a

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<v Speaker 1>sixth of the catalog? In any case, the upside of

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<v Speaker 1>having detailed assignments for each day was that after all

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<v Speaker 1>of that, the project was pretty easy to stick to.

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<v Speaker 1>On any given day, I am not deciding what to

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<v Speaker 1>listen to or how much to listen to. I am

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<v Speaker 1>just listening to a violin sonata and a few chorales

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<v Speaker 1>today and something else tomorrow. At this point, I've listened

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<v Speaker 1>to almost everything. I think if you're going to do

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<v Speaker 1>any sort of project like this, you need a detailed roadmap.

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<v Speaker 1>I interviewed someone recently who was visiting all of America's

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<v Speaker 1>national parks. This required a detailed outline of how many

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<v Speaker 1>days it takes to see each one and which are close.

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<v Speaker 1>and which require lots of advanced reservations, and which are

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit more accessible. But doing that meant that

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<v Speaker 1>such a comprehensive project was actually doable over a few summers. Likewise,

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<v Speaker 1>folks who are participating in National Novel Writing Month in

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<v Speaker 1>November know that you need to crank out 50,000 words

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<v Speaker 1>in a month. But this is much more doable if

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<v Speaker 1>you know that this is 1,667 words on each of

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<v Speaker 1>30 days. Or 2,000 words a day if you plan

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<v Speaker 1>to work 25 days, taking the five Sundays off. Or

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<v Speaker 1>2,500 words a day if you plan to take Saturdays

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<v Speaker 1>and Sundays off. If you don't know your expected daily

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<v Speaker 1>word count, on the other hand, it's going to be

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<v Speaker 1>a lot harder. Now, 2,500 words a day might sound

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<v Speaker 1>like a lot. That means you are writing 2,500 words

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<v Speaker 1>on Thanksgiving. And if that does sound like a lot, well,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you decide that you don't actually want to start

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<v Speaker 1>this project and then give up somewhere in the middle.

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<v Speaker 1>And that is a rational choice. But if you see

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<v Speaker 1>where you can fit 2,500 words a day into your life,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know that this is your expected pace, you

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<v Speaker 1>stand a pretty good chance of succeeding. Maps help us

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<v Speaker 1>get where we are going. we see how far we

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<v Speaker 1>need to go and how much time it will take.

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<v Speaker 1>That helps us make more rational choices. Most people understand

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<v Speaker 1>that you cannot drive 500 miles in five hours. Best

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<v Speaker 1>case scenario, that is a nine to 10 hour trip.

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<v Speaker 1>If you know where you will stop for lunch and

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<v Speaker 1>stop to stretch your legs along the road, you will

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<v Speaker 1>find it all more doable than if it looks like

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<v Speaker 1>just a huge number of miles. So if you're contemplating

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<v Speaker 1>any big project, map out your timeline. What do you

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<v Speaker 1>need to do when? How much do you need to

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<v Speaker 1>get done on each day to stay on track? You

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<v Speaker 1>might decide not to bite off the project. But if

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<v Speaker 1>you do, your odds of success will be good if

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<v Speaker 1>you have designed the timeline well. In the meantime, this

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<v Speaker 1>is Laura. Thanks for listening. And here's to making the

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<v Speaker 1>most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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<v Speaker 1>me at laura at lauravandercam.com. Before Breakfast is a production

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<v Speaker 1>of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit

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