This is an iHeart Podcast. Hey listeners, today's tip is powered by National University.
As a listener of Before Breakfast, you know my goal is to help you make the most of your day without sacrificing work or family time.
That's why I'm so happy to introduce an institution that shares the same values.
If you are thinking about going back to school, you're probably wondering how to fit it all in.
National's flexible online formats, four and eight-week courses, and monthly class starts help you begin your degree sooner, finish faster, and do it all on your own schedule. so you have more options for managing work, family and school.
With over 150 degrees, credentials and certificates to choose from, they have a program that fits your career goals.
Learn more today at nu.edu. 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 stop playing ping pong with plans.
When you are making plans with people, aim to figure out what you are doing in the fewest number of messages possible.
Save your effort for interacting live rather than figuring out logistics.
In professional and personal contexts, it is easy to find ourselves spending way too much time scheduling things.
A colleague sends a group email asking about availability next week.
People respond with paragraphs about their schedules, recounting vacations, dentist appointments, big deadlines, and more.
Hours or even days pass by the time everyone has responded, and the organizer suggests a time that seems to work, but by that time, people's availability has changed.
And the process begins again. This happens in our personal lives, too.
A friend suggests lunch, your game, and ask when is good.
She says, anytime. So you suggest Tuesday at noon.
Somehow, anytime doesn't include Tuesday at noon.
So eventually you land on Monday. You start discussing where to go, and multiple messages later, you've decided on a restaurant. only to realize it is closed on Mondays.
And so the ping-pong continues. But our planning procedures don't have to be quite so time consuming.
There are lots of ways to plan more efficiently.
I know some people use software like Calendly for scheduling meetings.
This can certainly be helpful if you need to schedule a lot of one-on-one type calls. and you don't want to offer three people Monday morning and then need to circle back with each of them as times disappear.
You also don't need to hear everyone's life story as you are scheduling them.
Each person can just choose a time that you've made available that works for them.
I know some folks also use doodle polls and the equivalent for group get-togethers.
These have the advantage of allowing you to quickly see which is the most popular option and allowing people to specify that they are available at a certain point but not particularly happy about it.
You can meet if need be, but the organizer knows it is not your first choice.
I love that little tweak. But these tools don't necessarily solve all the logistical problems, such as where you're meeting or what you're doing, if those are relevant questions.
And plenty of offices have meetings go through their own scheduling software, which often suffers from the problem of not really allowing people to state their preferences.
So before someone issues a calendar invite, they are generally still emailing around about availability.
This is definitely going to be the case for someone you haven't met with before.
As an unsolicited calendar invite can feel a little, well, aggressive.
So if you are emailing, you should have a strategy.
One option is to suggest three options and ask the other person to choose what sounds good to them.
For instance, if someone suggests lunch next week, you could reply with, how about Monday, 11.45 a.m.?
? at the Bluebird Cafe, Chopped, or India Palace.
That time might not work for the other person, but he or she is likely to follow your lead on specifics, and in the best case, is going to respond with, Could you do Tuesday or Wednesday at that time at any of those places?
At that point, you respond with your favorite and your first choice of Tuesday or Wednesday. and you're all good.
The ping pong game stops. If proposing just one time feels wrong to you, feel free to propose two to three times or small windows, but no more.
People get overwhelmed by too much choice.
If you know the other person has a bad habit of not responding with specifics, feel free to add the helpful nudge.
If these times don't work for you, please suggest a few that do.
Ideally, this prompts the other person to respond with two to three options that you can pick from.
If you are coordinating with more than one person and you're not doing a poll or you have multiple questions, the approach of suggesting a few specific options can still work.
Ask people to reply by a specific time with all the options that work for them.
Then you can choose the one that's the best fit and communicate the plan.
For instance, you might write, By the end of the day today, please reply, Just to me. to let me know whether you are available for a Zoom meeting Monday at 10, Tuesday at 1, and or Thursday at 9. please let me know all the times that are possible for you.
Then I will see what works for everyone and communicate the plan tomorrow morning.
I have taken this approach to scheduling a virtual meeting I do regularly with four other people who have busy schedules.
Now I know some people like to come across as flexible.
And if you are truly open, that's great.
But oftentimes when people claim to be flexible, they aren't.
So be kind and cut down on the ping pong by giving some parameters.
If a friend asks where you'd like to go to lunch, you can say, I'm game for anywhere you choose.
But then, you truly have to let them choose. and it might be a restaurant in their office lobby.
45 minutes from your place of work. If you have any sort of place preference or dietary requirements, it truly is nicer to just list three places that will appeal and are reasonably priced.
I mean, unless you're paying for it. If you tell someone, how about an Italian place in Midtown?
This requires them to do some research. If you suggest an Italian place, you are giving them the easy option of just saying yes.
A similar approach can work for professional meetings too.
I am currently available anytime Monday morning.
Please propose a time then. This works. No one is going to believe that you are free for the entirety of the next week, so don't say it.
Plus it's a bit overwhelming for someone trying to schedule something.
I mean, really? Anywhere in the hours you might conceivably be working?
If someone gives you a range, feel free to be decisive.
It is more efficient for everyone. When a colleague says, I am free for a Zoom call anytime Wednesday or Thursday after 2, simply choose a time within that window.
Great! Let's do Wednesday at 2.30. Here's a link.
Now your scheduling is done. No more ping pong.
You may think that being flexible is desirable, like, oh yeah, Wednesday after two works for me too.
When would you like to meet? but you are putting work back on the other person and delaying the resolution.
More ping pong. One side note, if the person you are making plans with sometimes takes a while to get back to you, specify that you are currently available at the times you are offering.
That way, they won't be disappointed if, several days later, your availability has changed.
Of course, if we are talking about meeting with a new potential client that you have been pursuing for months, you may want to put calendar holds on all the times you offer. so that you know your schedule won't have changed by the time of the reply.
By communicating clearly and acting decisively, we can avoid sinking lots of time into plan ping pong. so we can get on with our lives and enjoy the plans that we have made.
In 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, Facebook, and Instagram at beforebreakfastpod.
That's B-E, the number four, then breakfast, P-O-D.
You can also shoot me an email at beforebreakfastpodcast at iheartmedia.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 iHeart Radio.
For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. hey listeners today's tip is powered by National University I'll see you next time.
That's why I'm so happy to introduce an institution that shares the same values.
If you are thinking about going back to school, you're probably wondering how to fit it all in.
National's flexible online formats, four and eight-week courses, and monthly class starts help you begin your degree sooner, finish faster, and do it all on your own schedule. so you have more options for managing work, family and school.
With over 150 degrees, credentials and certificates to choose from, they have a program that fits your career goals.
Learn more today at nu.edu. Every business has an ambition.
PayPal Open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide. and your customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later, and all major cards, so you can focus on scaling up.
When it's time to get growing, There's one platform for all business.
PayPal Open. Grow today at PayPalOpen.com.
Loans subject to approval in available locations.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
