Let limits help you make choices

Sometimes constraints can make decisions easier

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to let limits help you make choices.
We don't generally seek out limits, but when we encounter them,

(00:25):
we can acknowledge that sometimes they have their benefits. They
help us prioritize, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Like many folks, I realized not long ago that I
had ended up with a fair amount of stuff in
my closet that I didn't wear. My husband had the
same problem. Neither of us felt compelled to do much

(00:48):
about it. Then we had a fifth baby. We are
eventually going to move to a house where the baby
will have a room, but the renovations are taking a while,
and in the meantime we decided to put his crib
in the master bedroom closet. This required cleaning out an
entire corner, two double racks plus a single one, and

(01:09):
the pile of stuff we had on the floor, So
we each took some time and got rid of what
didn't fit in our remaining space. Much of what we
got rid of could have been disposed of years ago,
but we didn't have an obvious need to do so.
Once we had a need, the limits on our space
made decisions a little easier. Maybe you can use the

(01:34):
same principle. If you have more books than bookshelf space,
and trust me, I sympathize with us, get rid of
some books, take the bookshelf space you have as a given,
decide which books you want to keep on those shelves,
and then let the rest go. It is time consuming
and exhausting to ask yourself whether or not you want

(01:55):
to keep each and every book, and to contemplate the
likelihood that you want to reread it or lend it
to a friend, and then start shopping through the universe
of extra bookcases that might or might not go in
your house. It's much easier to accept the limit of
the size of your bookcase and right size your library
for the available shelf space. If all your books have

(02:17):
a home, grete you have the right number. If not,
keep grabbing books you can give away until your shelves
provide enough space. Limits can help us decide what to
do with our time too. If you have ever worked
in a department that was short staffed, you probably noticed

(02:37):
that amazingly, the most critical work still got done. Now
maybe a lot of other great stuff didn't get done,
and I'm not suggesting cutting just to do so, but
when there are limited hands available, this inspires a certain
level of focus. Same thing with our personal lives. During

(02:58):
a busy weekend, when there is less time available for
life maintenance and household tasks. You will certainly make a
quick stop at the store for the obvious stuff, but
you won't visit three big box stores hunting for the
perfect shovel. You will probably do laundry, but you aren't
going to dust the base boards. You can even intentionally

(03:20):
plan less time for life maintenance tasks so that they
don't take over your weekend. Instead of thinking of Saturday
as errand day, devote an hour or two to errands
and let that limit help you decide which errands you
actually need to do. Of course, lots of people are
experiencing time constraints in their professional lives right now that

(03:41):
they didn't really choose. Hopefully, schools and child care will
be back to their usual operations soon, but in the meantime,
if you have fewer hours available for your job responsibilities,
I am guessing that, as a listener of this podcast,
you are likely identifying the most import work and doing

(04:01):
what fits with the available time. Wise move and if
you aren't doing that, well, take a little time to
consciously determine what's most important and what can be put
on the back burner. Life won't always be like this,
but maybe you can find a few tasks that never
need to be prioritized again, and that is worth knowing.

(04:27):
So today, if you are contending with limits on your
time or space, start by being realistic and acknowledging the limit.
All right, there are four hours I can do focused
work today. What are my top priorities? Or we have
a small car and a lot of stuff we wanted
to take on this trip. What do we actually need

(04:49):
the most? Then, without overthinking it, decide what's most essential
to fit within your limits and what you can set aside.
Handled such limits can make all decisions easier in the meantime.
This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

(05:12):
the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
hear 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

(05:32):
number four. Then Breakfast p O D You can also
shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast at i
heeart media 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

(05:54):
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Yeah,