Plan for transition time

Moving between activities takes time, so best to build it in

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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 transitions take time. It is generally not
possible to move instantaneously from one thing to another, so

(00:26):
best to figure out how long transitions will take and
plan for that reality. So I have to say I
am generally pretty swift at transitions. I can pivot between
different professional tasks or work in personal tasks quite quickly.
This is what makes my life possible. But even so,

(00:47):
things don't take zero time. I can stop work at
twelve twenty pm, change clothes, and be up with my
exercise equipment for my virtual trainer to FaceTime me at
twelve thirty. We end by one oh five, but I
am seldom back at my desk until one fifteen. My

(01:07):
thirty five minute training session, which is at home, still
took fifty minutes. With transitions. Because I track my time,
I can see these things. I can see that while
driving to church takes just seven to eight minutes, getting
in the car and parking on the other side doesn't

(01:28):
take zero minutes. So it's best to leave at six
forty five pm if I want to be in my
seat for choir warm ups at seven pm. I think
a lot of people don't think about these things. I
mean probably because they haven't tracked their time for ten
straight years, and so they are mystified why when they
walk out the door for something ten minutes away, at

(01:49):
ten minutes before the appointed time, they still show up late. Now,
you don't need to track your time for a decade,
but doing so for a few days will help re
yield these transition times that need to be accounted for.
Once you start to see them, you can start building
in the full time cost to your schedule. Going to

(02:11):
the gym may turn out not to take an hour,
Perhaps it takes an hour and fifteen minutes to both
drive there, check in, do your forty five minute workout,
towel off, and get back in your car and go home.
This explains why your spouse is always irritated with you
when you claim you are making a quick trip to
the gym and it'll take less than an hour and

(02:32):
then you are back later. Then this would imply now
to be sure, there is no reason to fear transitions,
and there is also no reason to build them up
to the point where they seem undoable. Yes, it takes
time to get five kids in a car for a
road trip, but it doesn't take an infinite amount of time.

(02:53):
It takes time to get the bags for one sport
and get the kid in the car and get there,
and time to get another kid's equipment for something else.
But that doesn't mean that you can't do two activities
in a day. You don't need to limit your life
to spend less time in transitions. You just need to
be focused. For instance, I have a mental checklist for

(03:16):
getting my youngest two kids off to school on the mornings.
This is my responsibility. I dress the five year old.
I check that the ten year old is wearing something
that fits and doesn't have holes. I make sure they
have both eaten breakfast and they have both packed lunches.
During the winter, I check for coats, and I make

(03:36):
sure these coats are buy their shoes in the mudroom
so they can take two minutes to put on shoes
and coats. But this is only eight things. If the
mental checklist of things are all checked off, then we
are good. So there's no reason to overthink transitions. We
just need to acknowledge that they happen and build the

(03:57):
time into our schedules. If we are smart and efficient,
the transition times don't need to be ridiculous, but they
are seldom zero, so best to plan for that. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening

(04:27):
to Before Breakfast. 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

(04:50):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.