WEBVTT - Build in life maintenance time

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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 build in life maintenance time. Running a household,

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<v Speaker 1>or even just your own life is a real job

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<v Speaker 1>that takes real space in a schedule. You can wish

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<v Speaker 1>that that weren't the case, but it is wiser to

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<v Speaker 1>simply build in time to manage what needs to be managed,

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<v Speaker 1>because then you will feel less stressed about the whole thing.

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<v Speaker 1>So today's tip is based on a listener question that

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<v Speaker 1>we received on my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds.

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<v Speaker 1>A listener worked for a local government agency and needed

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<v Speaker 1>to be in her office from eight to four thirty

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<v Speaker 1>each day with a thirty minute lunch. I understood from

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<v Speaker 1>the question that she didn't really have the ability to

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<v Speaker 1>do any personal tasks during her work hours since she

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<v Speaker 1>had a house and three kids, things like teacher emails,

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<v Speaker 1>permission slips, making appointments, calling contractors, or even scheduling a

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<v Speaker 1>haircut for herself, or just stacking up, and she felt overwhelmed.

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<v Speaker 1>I know this is a common problem. One of the

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<v Speaker 1>real benefits of working for myself and working flexibly is

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<v Speaker 1>having the freedom to home from work, as I sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>call it, as opposed to working from home, even though

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<v Speaker 1>I have a home office, so I guess I'm really

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<v Speaker 1>homing from home. If I need to buy a kid

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<v Speaker 1>a coat, I can do that at two thirty PM

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<v Speaker 1>and it is all fine. Sometimes I get annoyed at

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<v Speaker 1>the volume of household management stuff that stacks up, but

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<v Speaker 1>I am not going to get fired for attending to it.

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<v Speaker 1>I know that is not universally the case at all.

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<v Speaker 1>Some jobs simply do not allow for doing anything else

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<v Speaker 1>while you are actively working. If you are doing dental

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<v Speaker 1>procedures or driving a bus or directing traffic, you are

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<v Speaker 1>not going to be purchasing that coat online while people

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<v Speaker 1>drive into each other in that intersection. Some employers also

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<v Speaker 1>maintain much stricter rules about time and place and outside

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<v Speaker 1>information than others. Sometimes this is for good reasons, like

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<v Speaker 1>security clearances. Sometimes it isn't, but it is what it is. Alas,

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<v Speaker 1>people in these less flexible jobs do not magically get

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<v Speaker 1>a pass from doing home and life maintenance things, so

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<v Speaker 1>when do you do them? The answer is that you

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<v Speaker 1>have to figure out a time that does work with

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<v Speaker 1>your life and with your job, and block that in

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<v Speaker 1>treat this life and household maintenance time as work hours

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<v Speaker 1>just like your other work hours, because it is actual work.

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<v Speaker 1>So in the best of both worlds listener case I

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<v Speaker 1>advised her to set aside four thirty to five pm

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<v Speaker 1>a few days a week as official life maintenance time.

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<v Speaker 1>She likely couldn't do this work at her office, but

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<v Speaker 1>she could use her personal phone in her car to

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<v Speaker 1>do these tasks sitting there in the parking lot if

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<v Speaker 1>need be, or if there were another space like a

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<v Speaker 1>library or a coffee shop or a mall with a

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<v Speaker 1>seating area nearby, she could go there. She could write

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<v Speaker 1>down tasks as they occurred to her during the day,

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<v Speaker 1>or give herself assignments during a weekly planning session. Then

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<v Speaker 1>during her life maintenance time, she would go through the

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<v Speaker 1>tasks one by one and cross them off. The key

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<v Speaker 1>was that she needed to figure out how the rest

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<v Speaker 1>of her life could support that. For a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>working parents, one of the primary considerations is childcare to

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<v Speaker 1>cover this time. If her kids were at daycare or

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<v Speaker 1>after school care, or with a sitter, or with her

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<v Speaker 1>partner or another relative, then she needed to see if

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<v Speaker 1>this time could be extended to allow her to use

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<v Speaker 1>this four thirty to five window a few days a week. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>I know that seems not fun, it's not really happy hour,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's also a little sad to miss a little

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<v Speaker 1>family time, But kid care is both about being with

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<v Speaker 1>them and managing the logistics of their lives. Her little

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<v Speaker 1>bit of extra work would allow her to do both.

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<v Speaker 1>In her case, the four thirty to five window was

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<v Speaker 1>particularly nice as it was still during business hours. I

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<v Speaker 1>know some people work, say nine to five, I have

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<v Speaker 1>thirty with a thirty minute lunch or something like that.

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<v Speaker 1>If so, you can still do a lot of the

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<v Speaker 1>work outside business hours at a designated time. But then

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<v Speaker 1>you will need to make a list of anything that

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<v Speaker 1>can absolutely only be done during business hours and devote

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<v Speaker 1>say ten minutes of your lunch break to these tasks

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<v Speaker 1>a few times a week. Some could stack up for

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<v Speaker 1>a day off. Sometimes people in inflexible jobs do get

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<v Speaker 1>some personal days as part of their contracts. It might

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<v Speaker 1>be worth thinking strategically about how to use some of

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<v Speaker 1>those for longer term tasks. Life administration is work like

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<v Speaker 1>any other kind of work. Being able to do it

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<v Speaker 1>during working hours does make it easier to combine work

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<v Speaker 1>in life. But if that is not possible. Unfortunately, the

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<v Speaker 1>work doesn't disappear. You'll need to figure out a different

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<v Speaker 1>time that works for you, but do build it in.

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<v Speaker 1>You will feel a lot less overwhelmed as a result.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

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<v Speaker 1>you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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