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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production

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of I Heart Radio. Good

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Morning, This is Laura. Welcome

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to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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tip is to keep small things small.

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Not everything warrants a big response. And

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by keeping small things small, as the saying

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goes, you save your time and energy

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for things that truly do warrant your attention.

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You'll probably be happier too. If

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you're like most people, you no doubt find yourself

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annoyed when things in life aren't quite right.

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I know I do. Maybe your neighbor

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leaves his garbage bins on the curb for days,

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or maybe your workplace sends pointless email

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newsletters that you can't unsubscribe

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from. If you're listening to this

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podcast, my guess is that you have high

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standards for yourself and you try to

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find solutions to problems that come up in your

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life. That's generally a good thing.

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Sometimes, though, our attempts to find

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solutions can cost more than

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the problems they're trying to solve. That's

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when it pays to keep small things small. The

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first way to keep small things small is to recognize

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them as small things. Ask

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yourself, how much does this affect my

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life or the lives of the people I care

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about. Sometimes the answer

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will be not much. These

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are occasions to practice patients. You

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can smile after someone cuts in front of you

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in the line to exit from the highway. Maybe

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the person is a thoughtless jerk, or

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maybe it's a tourist in a rental car who

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had no idea that that's where the exit was. In

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any case, you know that you will still

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get to work on time at your high paying

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job, or you do challenging, meaningful

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work alongside clever colleagues.

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I mean, really, what does it matter

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to you? If you're not sure

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whether you're dealing with a small thing, try

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what Richard Carlson, author of Don't

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Sweat the Small Stuff, calls the time

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warp. Imagine yourself a

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year from now, how much does this

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issue matter? Most likely,

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you won't remember your commute two days from

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now, let alone a year from now. Or

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you can ask yourself whose issue

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is this? Anyway, it might

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be nice if your colleague didn't use double

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exclamation points and all his emails, but

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this hardly reflects upon you. You You might

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prefer that your high schooler look a little less

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like she had slept in her clothes, but again

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to eat her own. Psychologist

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Wendy Mogul, in her book The Blessing of a b

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Minus, encourages parents to

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allow themselves to appreciate their kids

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as they figure out who they are, even

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when their tastes or hobbies they

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seem a little odd. She offers

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an old Hebrew prayer, thank

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you God for varying the creatures.

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The next time you find yourself about to get annoyed

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or want to fix something that isn't actually your

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problem, just say to yourself, what

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a world plenty of surprises and

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leave other people to their exclamation points

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or odd bawl fashion. Sometimes,

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though, you may feel like a small thing is

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having an adverse effect on you or someone else,

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and you feel the urge to address it.

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Even then, a little perspective is wise.

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I find it helpful to imagine how a conversation

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about the issue might unfold.

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Suppose you have a monthly conference call that

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consistently starts ten minutes late.

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You faithfully log on at the scheduled time,

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only to spend ten minutes talking about the weather.

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As you think about bringing this up with the person

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who convenes the call, try to imagine

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what you would say try to imagine

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how he might respond. Are you

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feeling stumped about what you might say?

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That doesn't sound petty about

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this ten minutes every month? Or you

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have to talk about the weather. If

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so, plan for the delay,

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come up with your best weather jokes, or

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just dial in late yourself. Other

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times, though, imagining the conversation will

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help you figure out how to keep a small thing in perspective

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while constructively addressing its.

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Suppose you frequently learned about special programs

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at your kids school just a few days before you

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either scramble to rearrange your work schedule

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or your kids are disappointed when you can't be there.

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At first blush, you might think to respond to

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the teacher's next email with your frustration

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about this, but that might make the

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teacher feel guilty and probably doesn't

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help the long term goal of a good relationship,

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so instead you envision another option.

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When you have a hunch that there's an event coming up,

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you reach out to your child's teacher to ask if

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there's something you should anticipate. Hello,

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Mrs Rogers. With springbreak around the corner,

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I wondered if there might be a class party.

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I'm eager to get it on the calendar so I can

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arrange my schedule to attend. Hopefully

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that will elicit at least tentative information

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and maybe even nudge the teacher to give

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a little more notice for special events in the

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future. You kept the small things

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small while still addressing an issue

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that was bothering you. How

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do you manage to keep small things small in your

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life? You can let me know at

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Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart

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media dot com. In the meantime,

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this is Laura. Thanks for listening

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and here's to making the most of our time. Hey,

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everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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You can send me your tips, your questions, or

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anything else. Just connect with

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me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

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at Before Breakfast pod. That's

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b the number four then

5:29

Breakfast p o D. You

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can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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podcast at i heeart media dot com.

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That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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the letters. Thanks so much, should I

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look forward to staying in touch. Before

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Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.

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For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. I

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don't get