Win the week ahead in 20 minutes

Planning doesn’t need to take much time

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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 about how you can win the week
ahead in twenty minutes. By taking a few minutes on
Friday to think about the next week's priorities, you increase

(00:26):
the chances of spending time well and the really good
news is that this doesn't take much time at all.
Over the past year, I have become a big fan
of the podcast Best Laid Plans, which is hosted by
my friend Sarah hart Unger, who is also my co
host on the Best of Both Worlds podcast. Her podcast

(00:49):
shows all the amazing planners out there, and she interviews
people who have inspiring artistic styles of writing or planner decoration.
I love learning about this world old, but what I
have come to recognize is that planning has a functional
component and then for the planner community, an aesthetic elegant component.

(01:11):
In this way, it's a lot like cooking. You can
create amazing meals and study for a lifetime to be
a gourmet chef, but you don't have to do that either.
Most of us would improve our lives by mastering a
few twenty minute meals that will feed our families on weeknights.
Same with planning, you can create intricate spreads with high

(01:35):
end planners and beautiful pens. You can also get a
basic notebook, look at your calendar, and do a quick
and dirty planning session once a week that takes twenty
minutes max. That is pretty much what I do on Friday's.
I sit down with my planner and my calendar, and
I think through my priorities for the upcoming week. I

(01:57):
list what projects I'd like to spend my time on,
pally and personally. I figure out what is already on
my calendar that deserves extra attention. I draw up a
rough schedule for the week and think through logistics, and
then I am done. I often do this while eating

(02:17):
my lunch. It's really no big deal. Some people have
told me they are too tired to plan on Fridays,
which makes me think they've got the idea of planning
kind of wrong. Lower your standards and you will realize
it's not a marathon. It's really just a quick walk
around the block. But take that walk Friday after Friday,

(02:40):
and the upcoming weeks will be so much less stressful.
If you'd like to implement a weekly planning session, but
think it will take too much time. Challenge yourself to
set a timer for twenty minutes and absolutely do not
spend more time on it than that. My guess is
that in twenty minutes you'll get a lot more done,
and you think you will. You'll have a much better

(03:02):
handle on your upcoming week. You'll know what's going on
and what you'd like to have going on. Maybe you'll
send a note to a friend to arrange a phone call,
or to your spouse to arrange a date night, or
you'll make a reservation for that exercise class you keep
wanting to try. That is a lot of future fun
for your twenty minutes. And maybe I'll see that there's

(03:25):
a big project do Friday, but Thursday is full of meetings,
so you will carve out time to work on the
big project on Tuesday and Wednesday rather than being surprised
by it. That is a lot of tranquility for twenty minutes.
And so this is a big win. When we plan,

(03:45):
we don't live in chaos, or at least that chaos
that is always lurking is more manageable. And yes, you
could spend hours on planning. You could spend days planning,
but you can also spend twenty minutes and get a
lot done. So why not give it a try. In

(04:06):
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,

(04:27):
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 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

(04:54):
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. H