Maybe you don’t want to

There could be a reason you keep pushing something forward

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 that maybe you really don't want to
do something. We can convince ourselves that we should be
doing all sorts of things, but if you don't have

(00:25):
to and you don't want to, well, maybe better to
just let it go. If you are the sort of
person who listens to Before Breakfast, my guess is that
you make lots of goals for yourself. You have resolutions,
you have lists. I approve of all these things, but

(00:46):
my guess is that you, like me, wind up putting
some things on these lists over and over again. For instance,
I put watching Casablanca on my list of a hundred dreams,
and I am sure it is an amazing movie, probably
one of the best ever made. So as a cultured person,
I thought I should watch it, and then I didn't.

(01:10):
I crossed several huge things off that list of a
hundred dreams, like making an autumn trip out west to
Yellowstone and taking a winery tour of the Pacific Northwest
before attempting to take the maximum three hours that watching
Casablanca would take, which led me to realize something. Maybe
I didn't want to watch the movie. Perhaps that makes

(01:32):
me sound like a sad and uncultured person, but oh well.
Maybe you have noticed this with some of your long
standing goals or resolutions too. If there are tasks on
your work or home to do lists that you find
yourself not getting to consider whether you actually value them.

(01:53):
If you have been saying for a year that you
want to clean out your attic but you haven't made
any progress, maybe you don't actually have any desire to
do it, and if you don't need to, well, so
it goes. If you ever move, you could just box
it all up and ship it to the next place.
The world will keep spinning. If you have had pitching

(02:15):
a particular project on your work list for months but
never get motivated to develop the pitch, maybe it's not
a project you want to do after all. There are
all sorts of ideas that sound great in theory and
may be great for other people, or may even be
great for you at some other stage of your life.

(02:35):
But if you tell yourself every year that you are
going to learn Spanish and then you don't take any
steps towards learning Spanish, maybe you don't want to learn Spanish,
so it goes. Of course, there are some things that
work and home that you do actually have to do,
or at least the consequences of not doing them are problematic.

(02:56):
Few people feel like filing their expense reports, but you
probably don't want an entire business trip of expenses sitting
on your own personal ledger. If you were transferred to
a Spanish speaking country and you wanted to keep your job,
learning Spanish would rise up the priority list fast. We
can do plenty of things even if we don't like them. However,

(03:17):
if you don't have to do something and you keep
moving it forward week after week, consider that maybe you
just don't want to do it. As we often say
here on before Breakfast, expectations are infinite and time is finite.
We are always choosing. By letting go of things that

(03:38):
you don't really want to do, you free up mental
space to pursue things that you truly do, desire and value.
Life is far better when we focus our energy on
what actually excites us. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

(04:01):
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 number four, then Breakfast

(04:24):
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 I heart Radio. For

(04:45):
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. One