Declutter your schedule

0:03Speaker 1:Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to declutter your schedule to leave room for serendipity. When you are too tightly scheduled with various have-to-dos, you are less likely to notice and experience unexpected delights and opportunities. And you are less likely to say yes to things that it would probably be wise to do. Today's tip, like several others we have explored recently, comes from my new book, Big Time, A Simple Path to Time Abundance.

0:48Speaker 1:One of the strategies I advocate in Big Time is to be open to serendipity. Sure, you want to plan wonderful experiences and you want to schedule in time for your priorities at work. But you don't want to plan every minute so full that there is no room for something fabulous that you weren't expecting. If you're like a lot of Before Breakfast listeners, I imagine that your schedule is probably full. But unfortunately, it may not be full with things that you are incredibly excited to do. So today I will offer suggestions for making it a little less full of things you don't want to do, so you will be capable of saying yes to appealing opportunities that come up. To start, take a look at all your recurring commitments. These might include that weekly meeting with your team at work or with your boss, a monthly meeting for a volunteer committee you chair, a spin class before work on Fridays that you've signed up for, a monthly gathering for your professional association. First, ask yourself, does this commitment still need to happen? Sometimes a recurring commitment outlives its benefits. So from time to time, it's wise

2:03Speaker 1:to evaluate them. Some commitments you may eliminate altogether. Maybe that weekly team meeting for a project that's kind of dormant might become a weekly team email. You might also be able to shorten the duration of things that you plan to keep. Does that weekly one-on-one with your boss need to be an hour? Or could it be 30 minutes? A half hour reclaimed for other things may not sound like much, but over the course of the year, that works out to 26 hours for you and your boss to do other things. You might also look at your schedule and see what makes it more efficient. Let's say you want to exercise and you need to drive your kid to ballet. Could you find a gym or a running trail near the studio? Then, rather than driving 20 minutes in the car there and back, and then 20 minutes to pick her up, and needing to find time to exercise elsewhere, you combine all these activities. Now, at least some time is freed up. You can also declutter your schedule by seeing if you spend time on things that other people can do. This is certainly true at work.

3:14Speaker 1:Delegating takes time and effort, but hopefully frees up a lot of time over the long haul. But it is also true at home. And indeed, I find that when people really feel their schedules are cluttered, it is often their personal lives that are the biggest culprit. I know I find myself less likely to take on anything new in May, when my kids have all sorts of end-of-school-year events. September, when there are a host of back-to-school events. And December, which is a lot like May. Now, you probably do want to go to your middle schooler's band concert and your kindergartner's graduation. But be careful not to spend too much time and mental energy on things that matter less.

3:57Speaker 1:You can eat simple meals. You can get groceries delivered if that would be helpful. You can order lots of things for your life online. You can also be sure not to introduce any rules or systems that will require a lot of effort on someone's part. For instance, when I recently saw another family's elaborate screen time rules, I thought, great for them, not for me. I don't want to spend time and energy policing this, so we just limit the hours when phones and devices are an option. After you've gone through your calendar and tasks systematically, I would also suggest you get choosier about new commitments. Just because your schedule is open at a time you are tasked to attend a meeting or an event, that doesn't mean you have to do it. If the invitation makes you excited or appreciative, it aligns with one of your values, then great. Say yes enthusiastically. One of my recent tips was to be a person who shows up for things.

5:00Speaker 1:But if it is just calendar clutter, just say no. When you review your schedule with an eye toward leaving room for serendipity, you can weigh each current item on your calendar with other possibilities that might come up. Open time isn't valued at zero. On a scale of 1 to 10, if you have open space, you might be able to put an 8, 9, or 10 in there. And when you don't feel overwhelmed, you are more likely to make choices that introduce the possibility of an 8, 9, or 10. Doing something exciting but unexpected, meeting a new friend, taking on a big new responsibility at work. All of these are better than schedule clutter. In the meantime... This is Laura. Thanks for listening. And here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

6:06Speaker 1:If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at LauraVanderkam.com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media. For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.