Assign each day a task

Make progress by scheduling recurring tasks for a particular day of the week

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
This week we're talking about tips from Gretchen Reuben's new
book Outer Order, inter Calm. Today's tip is to assign
each day its own task. Gretchen tells us that I

(00:26):
love Laura Ingles Wilder's book Little House in the Big Woods,
and even as a child, I was fascinated by the
idea of assigning a particular household chore to each day
of the week. According to Laura Ingles Wilder, wash on Monday,
iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean
on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sunday. Gretchen notes

(00:52):
that this approach can be adapted to the work week
for tasks that are best done periodically. You might update
spreadsheets on Monday, process expense receipts on Tuesday, work on
monthly reports on Wednesday, invoice on Thursday, make phone calls
on Friday. The upside of such rules is that working
regularly on projects becomes a habit. You know you'll never

(01:15):
fall too far behind on your expense reports. If every
Tuesday you take a little bit of time to work
on them. Gretchen cautions, however, that this notion of assigning
certain kinds of work to certain days might not appeal
equally to each of the four tendencies. The Four Tendencies
is a research backed personality framework that Gretchen came up

(01:36):
with that is about how people respond to different expectations,
both outer expectations and inner ones. She found that people's
responses tended to fall into four categories. Upholders respond well
to both inner and outer expectations. Questionners don't like outer
expectations but are good with inner ones. Obligers have trouble

(02:00):
keeping promises to themselves, but would never let anyone else down.
Rebels don't like expectations in general, whether they come from
inside or outside. If you'd like to find out your tendency,
you can take the quiz at quiz dot Gretchen Reuben
dot com, and of course it's explained in her book
The Four Tendencies. In case you're curious, eye, this is

(02:22):
Laura here and an upholder, which was probably obvious to
anyone who listened to the episode about my nine plus
day running streak. I'll also fesce up to being the
person behind the anonymous anecdote in Gretchen's book The Four Tendencies, who,
despite being deep in labor with her fourth child, insisted
that her husband observe all traffic laws on the way

(02:43):
to the hospital and park in the correct lot. Gretchen
is also an upholder, and as she noted, the idea
of a daily schedule for tasks fills her with delight.
But she says, if you think the schedule seems arbitrary,
you're probably a question er. If you're wondering if you'll
be able to stick to this schedule, you're likely to
be an obliger. If the very thought of being trapped

(03:06):
by a schedule makes you want to run out the
door and into the big woods, you're probably a rebel.
So do you like the idea of assigning each day
a task? I do this with my blog, doing certain
sorts of posts on Monday's, Tuesdays, and Friday's. I generally
planned my weeks on Friday's, and I sent in the
following week's lineup for the Before Breakfast podcast on Monday's.

(03:29):
Let me know what you think of the idea and
which tasks you assigned to which days you could also
let me know which of the four tendencies best describes you.
As always, you can email me at Before Breakfast podcast
at i heeart media dot com. In the meantime, this
is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making the
most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear

(03:57):
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

(04:17):
dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

(04:39):
your favorite shows.