Talk on Thursday to plan on Friday

Ask what's going on with anyone whose schedule will affect yours

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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 talk on Thursday to plan on Friday
before you do your weekly planning. You can have a

(00:25):
conversation with anyone whose schedule will affect yours that will
allow you to plan more strategically. Longtime listeners know that
one of my core time management rules is to plan
on Fridays. I think every busy person needs a designated
weekly planning time when they think about the upcoming week

(00:49):
and think about what they need and want to do.
Fridays tend to be a good time for this, as
they are generally slower. You can think about the upcoming
week and if you want, and then you can hit
the ground Monday ready to go. But life tends to
be a team sport, and so one of the first
questions people ask me about this is when they should

(01:11):
talk to other people about their schedules. If they plan
on Friday, do they need to call their spouses during
this time, chat with their managers during this time, text
with their teens. If you want, you can do all
of these things, and I often do wind up reaching
out to people as part of my planning. For instance,
I might see that I have time to run our

(01:33):
walk on a particular morning, so I'll text a friend
about getting together. But a quick text isn't going to
get someone's entire schedule sent to you if you need that.
For instance, let's say your teenager has a job but
can't drive himself to his workplace yet. If you are
going to be responsible for some of these rides, then

(01:55):
you will need to know your child's work schedule as
you plan your week. Or perhaps your spouse sometimes has
to cover an evening shift, or would like to go
help a relative with a project on the weekend. These
things will all affect your schedule, and of course, if
you'd like to do things as a family during the
course of the week, you will need to talk about

(02:16):
what those things are. You can train people to send
you their schedules or to upload their work schedules to
a family calendar, and if that works, amazing, But I
also know that might be expecting a bit much of
someone who is, say, fifteen years old. I am also
taking a wild guess that if you are listening to

(02:38):
before breakfast, you might be more adept at keeping schedules
straight than other people in your family, which might include
your spouse. He meant to tell you about the weekend
meet up with Grandma, but he forgot, and your manager
is something else entirely. She probably isn't going to sit

(02:59):
down and spell out everything for you that might affect
your workflow over the next week, so you can get
in the habit of asking people about their schedules. If
you will be planning on Friday, then try to have
a conversation on Thursday with anyone whose schedule will affect yours.

(03:19):
Ask your manager if she says anything big happening next week,
or if there are deadlines or new projects you should
be aware of. Talk with your spouse about his or
her work schedule and personal commitments. If you have family
dinner on Thursdays, talk with your kids about what they
have going on next week and what you should know about.

(03:39):
Hopefully this will nudge the thought of, oh, yeah, my
manager wanted me to cover an extra shift next Saturday.
These conversations don't have to be long or drawn out.
You are just trying to get through the next seven days.
But once you know about any big things going on
in other people's schedules, you can plan more strategically, and

(04:01):
you can also feel fine drawing a boundary around what
you will and won't do. If someone forgets to tell
you about something when you specifically asked about this, then
that person may need to come up with their own solutions.
You help when given the chance to help. If not
given the chance, well that might be on them. I

(04:25):
send my family's schedule around on Friday after I've created it,
and it often does prompt some back and forth. Still,
at that point, maybe someone sees something else that needs
to be added or taken off, and at that point
it is still fine. It's the last minute stuff that's
a lot harder. But having a conversation on Thursday before

(04:46):
you plan on Friday can help keep everything running on time.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for

(05:07):
listening 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

(05:30):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows,