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 you don't have to pick up every
Speaker 1: dropped ball. I know that the people who listen to
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast are conscientious and productive, and it can be
Speaker 1: utterly maddening to watch other people drop the ball. A
Speaker 1: colleague has offered to plan a baby shower for a
Speaker 1: team member, and the due date keeps getting closer with
Speaker 1: no indication that anything has been planned. Or maybe you
Speaker 1: have a high schooler who doesn't want you to register
Speaker 1: him for the SAT, but has not taken any steps
Speaker 1: to do that himself. Maybe a local nonprofit board chair
Speaker 1: has insisted you need a summer meeting, but she has
Speaker 1: not scheduled it and it is almost Labor Day. Your
Speaker 1: neighbor asked about borrowing your powerwasher. You said yes, you
Speaker 1: moved it to your porch and there it sits. In
Speaker 1: moments like these, conscientious people often feel tempted to swoop
Speaker 1: in to pick up the drop ball and save the day.
Speaker 1: You scramble to plan a baby shower last minute, you
Speaker 1: write to the board chair to suggest dates. You walk
Speaker 1: your powerwasher over to your neighbors, and sometimes picking up
Speaker 1: a dropped ball is the right thing to do. I mean,
Speaker 1: you probably don't want to let your kid delay taking
Speaker 1: the SAT too long if you're pretty sure he does
Speaker 1: hope to go to college. You want your team member
Speaker 1: to have a baby shower, and so you might decide
Speaker 1: to plan the shower as your colleague, who you know
Speaker 1: is less busy than you, makes noises about how everything
Speaker 1: has just been so busy. And sometimes you pick up
Speaker 1: the ball because it's going to land back in your
Speaker 1: court anyway, and the later it does, the more frantic
Speaker 1: everything will be. If your boss wants you to create
Speaker 1: some charts for his presentation and he hasn't gotten you
Speaker 1: the data, sadly, you probably do need to follow up
Speaker 1: so he doesn't drop this in your lap the night
Speaker 1: before his presentation when you have a million other things
Speaker 1: going on. But you don't always have to pick up
Speaker 1: the ball. If it is not going to be much
Speaker 1: bothered to you one way or another, you can just
Speaker 1: let it ride. If your neighbor hasn't come by in
Speaker 1: a week, just put the powerwasher back in the garage.
Speaker 1: Your neighbor can knock on your door or text you
Speaker 1: when they're on the way, and you will deal with
Speaker 1: it then if it is convenient. In some cases, you
Speaker 1: can float a test balloon. A friend who hasn't responded
Speaker 1: to dates you suggested for getting together can be nudged
Speaker 1: with a message sking if she had other dates in mind.
Speaker 1: But eventually you have to let the other person decide
Speaker 1: to deal with it or not. Indeed, sometimes you can
Speaker 1: deliberately put the ball back in someone's court to decide
Speaker 1: if they are serious or not. If you have this
Speaker 1: sort of job where a lot of people want to
Speaker 1: pick your brain or do informational interviews about your industry,
Speaker 1: you can ask the person requesting a meeting to first
Speaker 1: send you a list of questions so you can prepare.
Speaker 1: If the person does, great, you could schedule a meeting.
Speaker 1: But if they drop the ball, well good you found
Speaker 1: out before you spent thirty minutes with them or tried
Speaker 1: to do a professional favor for someone who wasn't actually
Speaker 1: that excited about it in the first place, especially when
Speaker 1: the other person made the request or initiated planning. If
Speaker 1: they drop the ball, you may not need to pick
Speaker 1: it up. You can assume that when it's a priority
Speaker 1: for them, they will get back to it, and you
Speaker 1: don't need to take responsibility for it in the meantime.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.