Second Cup: Get it done by Thursday

0:00This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the survivor files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with the Elizabeth Smart on the iHeart Radio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio. Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to be done by Thursday. If you work a Monday to Friday work week, aiming to be done with most of your work duties

1:02by the end of Thursday will buy you breathing room for things to go wrong, or to go very right. Long time listeners know that at least for information type jobs, I advocate keeping Friday as open as possible. This isn't so you can take a long weekend, though, of course that's nice from time to time too. The idea is that most of us benefit from having open space in our schedules. We don't know on Monday all the things we will need to do by the end of the week. If every minute is already spoken for, then there is no place to put anything new that comes up. That means not scheduling meetings for Friday until you get to Friday and find you really need to have them. But it also means not having a full plate of things to get caught up on. Some work duties are time specific. If you have to file something daily, then obviously you can't do it on Thursday for Friday.

2:06But some things are not time specific. Ideally, you should construct your work schedule, so that everything that is not time specific is done by the end of Thursday. So if you have to write a report every week, get it done by the end of Thursday. If you need to check in with your clients once a week, do that by the end of Thursday. Anything that you have to do regularly should be finished by the time you end work Thursday afternoon or evening. That way Friday is actually really open. This habit does a few things. First, you have a buffer. If any of your regular work duties take longer than usual. When enough time is built in to do it by the end of Thursday, then if it takes longer, you still have Friday to deal with it. If something big comes up during the week, you also have time to deal with it. And your regular work duties. The big thing might have displaced something from earlier in the week,

3:09but there is space to get caught up on Friday. You weren't counting on having that Friday for anything else. That big thing could be a problem and emergency you have to deal with, but it could also be something really cool. Maybe you get an inquiry about a really exciting new project. Or a client announces she'll be in town and wants to meet. You can say yes. Knowing that any regular work duties that are displaced can be dealt with on Friday. Without borrowing time from the next week, which will no doubt have crises of its own. Getting it done by Thursday also means that you have more mental space on Friday. Many of us claim we'd like to have more time to think. Friday can be that time. You can come up with ideas or think about how you'd like to do things better. You can reach out to people or maybe read that email a little closer and see that the person is suggesting something that might actually be really cool.

4:11You follow up. That leads to an opportunity. In a world where people feel starved for time, having some open space can make time feel luxurious. We feel time rich. But all it really takes to get to that state is making sure that whatever has to happen has a time to happen earlier in the week. Get it done by Thursday and you'll find your work life in general feeling more productive and less stressful. 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. If you've got questions, ideas or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at LauraVandercam.com.

5:14Before 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. I survived nine months in captivity and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with the Elizabeth Smart on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a bookshelf and you're a for-you-page or equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who

6:17thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture. With your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed, I'm obsessed. Listen to pro society on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.