None feels different from one

Even one scheduled event changes an entire day

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that none feels different from one. Even one

(00:23):
meeting or time specific commitment per day changes the feeling
of the day, so be careful how you arrange your schedule.
Longtime listeners know that I suggest scheduling one anchor event
a day on vacations or weekends. This is something that

(00:43):
you can look forward to and that will provide well
an anchor to the day. You have a reason to
get up and something to structure the day around, and
you will know at the end of the day that
you did something you enjoyed. The day didn't just flutter away. However,
this concept also works in reverse. If one scheduled event

(01:08):
a day changes the entire feeling of the day, then
if you don't want that sort of structure, you could
recognize that none feels very different from one. It might
be wise to clear any sort of commitments from a
day that you would like to have be open. I

(01:30):
am certainly aware of this when I am deep into
a writing or editing project and I am planning out
my weeks. I absolutely love to see a day where
I don't have anything scheduled. I mean outside of getting
everyone out the door in the morning and dealing with
my family after work. I'm talking more about seeing the
hours between eight am and four pm looking completely clear.

(01:55):
I like the idea of being able to work at
my own pace without needing to watch the clock until
the end of the work day. It's not that having
one thirty minute call at one pm is such a
big deal. I mean, it's only thirty minutes. But I
also know that I will be aware of that phone
call on my calendar. I will likely stop working by

(02:18):
twelve fifty or so to make sure I am ready,
and I won't start anything big after noon that I
don't want to have interrupted. And you can see how
this goes. One event changes the entire feel of the day,
so best to be aware of this. Consequently, when I
am planning phone calls or interviews or anything else for

(02:41):
future weeks, I try to batch these things as much
as possible. If I already have something scheduled for two
pm on one particular day, I will try to put
other things on that day rather than putting them on
different days that might otherwise be open. Also, if I

(03:03):
am planning my week and looking at it and seeing
that a given day has one not terribly urgent thing
on it, I might reach out to the other parties
and see if they are flexible. They might not be,
in which case I will deal with it, but if
they are, maybe I can create an open day. Again.

(03:27):
I know, not all kinds of work go like this.
In many corporate environments, it is almost impossible to keep
a day completely free of meetings. If that is the case,
then you do like to have some focused, uninterrupted time.
You might try thinking of lunch as a reset. You

(03:47):
don't schedule things before twelve thirty pm on a few days,
if that's possible, and try to preserve that space. I
know that if I do have to put one thing
on a day, difference is for around twelve to one pm,
because I will likely break for lunch at some point anyway,

(04:07):
so it is not quite as disruptive to the day's
flow as say a single eleven AM call. Or I
can put it right before my kids get home, so
something like three thirty PM, since I know I'll be
ending soon and I might be watching the clock by
then anyway. But even so, even one thing that's scheduled,

(04:29):
changes a schedule. Sometimes that is a good thing. I
have been home all day on a rainy Saturday with
my kids, and it can feel crazy. Making better to
go to the children's museum for a few hours from
let's say ten to noon and feel like the day
had an anchor. But sometimes it's less of a good thing.

(04:51):
If you are preserving space for creative work, it might
be better to take three calls on one day, then
one on each of three days. Having two open days
will allow you to get in the flow and not
watch the clock. Much as I love time, sometimes being

(05:15):
off the clock is a wonderful feeling. Indeed, in the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

(05:38):
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

(06:00):
listen to your favorite shows.