Schedule yourself first

How to make sure you do the work

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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 schedule yourself first. Identify what needs to
happen for your life to run smoothly and for you

(00:26):
to achieve your goals. Then schedule those activities first before
committing to anything else. So you have probably heard the
classic financial advice to pay yourself first, to save money
for your own future needs before you pay for everything else.

(00:50):
Money goes to your retirement account or emergency fund before
it goes to clothes or dinners out or anything discretionary.
If you wait to save what is left over, there
might not be anything left over. But if you pay
yourself first, one way or the other, you'll get through

(01:11):
to your next paycheck and you will build wealth at
the same time. As is so often the case, what
is wise for money is wise for time. Two. Just
as people who are smart with their money set aside
savings for their future needs before they spend on other things,

(01:32):
people who are smart with their time figure out how
much time they need to invest in maintaining their well
being and for achieving their goals. They put that time
on their schedule first before they commit to spending time
in other ways. The most obvious category this works with

(01:52):
is sleep. If you need seven and a half hours
of sleep per day, then you should carve out seven
and a half hours of time each day during which
you can sleep. Since my guess is that you need
to wake up at set times most days for work
or family responsibilities, that means going to bed at a

(02:14):
reasonable time. Doing that instead of trying to get to
the bottom of your bottomless inbox, amounts to paying yourself first.
Maintaining good health also requires time for physical activity. If
you have an active job, great, But if you sit

(02:36):
all day, then you need time devoted to moving your body,
and you need that more than you need that marginal
extra meeting block it in. Schedule yourself first so you
reap the rewards over time. You can also schedule yourself

(02:57):
first by devoting time to those long term projects that
you don't want to die not having done. I don't
know what it is for you, but lots of people
want to do things like start a business, or write
a book or read war and peace. If that sounds
like you, then paying yourself first means putting time for

(03:21):
those things on your schedule before you take care of
everything else demanding your attention. For many people, the best
time is first thing in the morning. I am here
to tell you that if you get up and read
one of the very short chapters of War and Peace
every morning, which will probably take less than ten minutes,

(03:43):
you will get through the book in a year. You
won't really notice those ten minutes in the grand scheme
of things, just like you don't have to save incredible
amounts per day to have a reasonably secure retirement. But
all that time does add up, so it goes for
all things. If you want to explore entrepreneurial ideas, schedule

(04:08):
in an hour Monday morning Wednesday morning and stick to it.
See how it goes. If you find the time is fruitful,
you can start adding to it. But if nothing else,
having that time on your calendar will get your brain
in that mindset you might start having ideas and moving

(04:31):
yourself forward. And if you don't schedule yourself first, well,
all time passes, just like money has a way of disappearing.
Best to schedule yourself first, like you pay yourself first,
and you will be far richer in the end. In

(04:53):
the meantime, this is Laura, thanks for listening and here's
to making the most of 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,

(05:16):
Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the
number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia
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.

(05:45):
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