Put a toe in the water

Try it out before committing

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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.
Today's tip is for the folks who are big on
organizing things. When you are considering starting something new, put

(00:26):
a toe in the water and see how it feels.
Trying out something in a small way can provide insight
into whether you'd like to pursue it in a bigger way.
I know a lot of people are building back their
routines these days after a long time of having our
old ways of life suspended. In this make up for

(00:50):
lost time frame of mind, we often get really ambitious.
It can be fun to imagine, let's say, forming a
supper club with three other couples, with a different couple
hosting everyone for dinner in their home each month, getting
to see friends every month, and hosting a lot of
dinner parties sounds great, so why not get it on

(01:11):
the books? And certainly it could be amazing. But if
you have never done a supper club before, and particularly
not with these folks, it might also prove to be
cumbersome to coordinate everyone's schedules. Do you need to cancel
your November and December gatherings for the holidays, and what

(01:32):
about the summer when people's schedules tend to be different,
what about dietary considerations? You may have just sign yourself
up for dealing with a lot of logistics, and when
things peter out because you didn't do it in the summer,
and then one of those couples seems to travel a
lot in September and can't be nailed down, you might

(01:56):
feel like you failed. So instead, why not just put
a toe in the water, invite those three couples to
dinner at your home this month and enjoy it. If
someone suggests that it would be fun to do it again,
encourage that idea. You could certainly float the supper club

(02:16):
concept or suggests putting two months on the calendar to
see how it goes, but you don't necessarily need to
formalize it forever at this point. Just see how it
feels and go from there. Or maybe you've been thinking
about how nice it would be to have a running
buddy before you invite a friend to run with you

(02:39):
every Tuesday at five am from now until the end
of time, why not invite her to run with you
this Tuesday and try it out. Do you enjoy the
time together, do you run at about the same pace.
Does the time work for you both and you have

(03:00):
similar attitudes about punctuality. Plan the run as a one
off event, enjoy it as such, and if you want
to do it again, do it the next week. After
a few Tuesday at five runs, you can decide to
always run together. Well, probably not always if Tuesday is

(03:23):
Christmas or one of you was in Australia, but a
lot of Tuesdays. However, if you realize that five fift
feels too early to run, or your friend is a
lot faster than you, you can just do the runs occasionally.
No need to commit to multi year plans in advance.

(03:44):
Whatever the group a bridge club, a book club, a
play group, try planning a single gathering and seeing how
it goes now to be sure. I am a huge
fan of recurring gatherings. People who do either friends regularly
are absolutely the ones who have a standing date for

(04:04):
an early Tuesday run or who always get together for
supper on the first Friday of the month. Recurring gatherings
ensure that we get together with people we care about
more frequently and with a lot less tedious planning, but
you can't always predict the chemistry ahead of time, so

(04:26):
before you invest in creating a long term commitment, give
it a try a time or two first to see
whether it's actually something you want to do every week
or every month. By putting a toe in the water,
you can get a feel for whether the recurring activity
would live up to your hopes. If it will wonderful,

(04:50):
plan away, and if it may not, well, just enjoy
it occasionally and seek out other waters where you may
want to dip your toes in the meantime. This is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

(05:10):
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

(05:33):
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

(05:54):
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
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