Re-assess your safety nets

What makes you braver, and what is holding you back?

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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 to reassess your safety nets. Backup plans are good,

(00:23):
but you don't necessarily need them forever, or at least
need the same ones forever. Make sure you take a
good look from time to time to see what is
still serving you and what isn't. Today's tip, like another
this week, comes from Elizabeth Sharpmakatta's new book, Edit Your Life.

(00:46):
This book is about how to live with intention in
a messy world. One of her suggestions for editing your
life is to look around your life at your safety
nets and ask what they are keeping you safe from
and whether they are serving that purpose. Maybe you need

(01:06):
an extra safety net, or maybe you need less. It's
hard to know unless you take a really good look.
So first some clarification. A literal safety net is the
net below an aerial performer that means if the person falls,
they won't be badly injured. Metaphorically, a safety net is

(01:31):
something that keeps a problem from becoming a disaster. So
a safety net, like unemployment insurance, means that if someone
loses a job, his or her family will still have
some income. We often have safety nets for our individual
lives too. For instance, Elizabeth talks of having an accountant

(01:52):
friend who took on freelance tax season work while he
was growing his own business. He wanted to make sure
he had enough cash coming in so that even if
the business grew slowly, he would be okay. Some safety
nets are absolutely necessary even if you are wealthy or

(02:14):
have an incredibly secure job. It is still a good
idea to have a few months worth of expenses somewhere
you can access easily. If you and your spouse both
travel for work and you have kids, you need more
than one person available while you are both gone in
case something goes wrong for that first person and both

(02:37):
of you aren't there. But you do want to ask
what the safety nets in your life are keeping you
safe from. For instance, the accountant in our example wanted
to avoid going broke even if his business took a
while to grow, But after he had more clients than
he could handle, he really needed to focus on his

(02:58):
business other than diverting his attention to work. That was
just about paying the bills. His bills were fine. Time
to let that particular net go. Elizabeth suggests asking if
you feel you can live more freely knowing a safety
net is below you, or if a particular safety net

(03:20):
has started to hamper your choices. What might happen if
you shed one of your safety nets? Would you have
more time to pursue your creative work, more freedom to
do things in your personal life? Or conversely, you might
find that certain safety nets might make you braver. For instance,

(03:41):
if you don't have an emergency fund, you might live
in fear of losing your job. Once you've got a
fair amount of cash in the bank, that prospect becomes
a lot less terrifying. That means that people have less
power over you. You don't really have to do anything.

(04:04):
You have choices, and that can make you a lot
braver and more free. So reassess your safety nets and
figure out which are working for you and which aren't.
Figure out if you need to take one away or
maybe if you need to add one. Getting the balance

(04:26):
right can help you build the life you want. In
the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

(04:49):
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 E the
number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia

(05:10):
dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much, should I look forward to
staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.
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(05:30):
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