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 to say no for a while. Taking something
Speaker 1: off your plate for a little bit can be a
Speaker 1: temporary step to chucking it for good. We're seeing if
Speaker 1: you'd like to keep doing it after all. Today's tip,
Speaker 1: like some others this week, comes from Laura May Martin's
Speaker 1: new book Up Time. Martin is Google's productivity guru, coaching
Speaker 1: executives there on how to be more efficient with their schedules.
Speaker 1: Martin notes that there is much to the common productivity
Speaker 1: advice to say no more often, But if you work
Speaker 1: in a big corporate environment where you need to be
Speaker 1: seen as a team player, he might want to shape
Speaker 1: that now in a way that keeps your relationship strong.
Speaker 1: So how might you do that? One approach is to
Speaker 1: say no for a little while. In her book, Martin
Speaker 1: says that when people want to make a change to
Speaker 1: their schedule, sometimes they are hesitant. What if I move
Speaker 1: John from weekly to monthly and then it feels like
Speaker 1: we're not meeting frequently enough. Martin writes that these changes
Speaker 1: to your schedule do not have to be permanent. Try
Speaker 1: a three month trial period. If you drop off a
Speaker 1: committee but miss it, sign back up. If you and
Speaker 1: John do email all the time because you aren't meeting enough,
Speaker 1: meet more often. If you never test your assumptions, she writes,
Speaker 1: you may never know the right link for recurrence of
Speaker 1: a meeting. The key is coming up with some reason
Speaker 1: to start a change. But as we've talked about in
Speaker 1: recent Before Breakfast episodes, life can feature a lot of transitions,
Speaker 1: So just pick one. Maybe you are staffed on something
Speaker 1: big and new, so you tell another team that a
Speaker 1: deputy will be taking over that team status meeting for
Speaker 1: the next month while you get the new thing going.
Speaker 1: That doesn't sound like you are abandoning the project, but
Speaker 1: who knows. Maybe your deputy will do an awesome job
Speaker 1: now that project is running without your constant active input.
Speaker 1: That is generally a good thing. No can feel hard
Speaker 1: to say, but it is sometimes easier to say no
Speaker 1: for a little while. Then that no can revert to
Speaker 1: a yes, or it can become a permanent no, but
Speaker 1: it will give you a little space to think about
Speaker 1: it so you can make the right choice for yours
Speaker 1: and for other schedules in the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.