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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning. This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's episode is going to be a longer one part of the series where I interview fascinating people about how they take their days from great to awesome and their advice for the rest of us.
So today I'm delighted to welcome Amanda Warner to the show.
Amanda lives in Florida and she's worked in fields including commercial real estate and event planning.
She is currently doing consulting in commercial real estate.
She is also a long time before breakfast listener.
So Amanda, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to have you.
So why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners?
Maybe tell them a little bit about yourself.
Sure. So like you said in the intro, I live in South Florida and my career has been in commercial real estate.
So both doing the operation side and then also lease administration side.
And as we chat through, you know, some time things, you'll see a lot of it is scheduled or routine or repetitive.
And so, you know, some of my, I guess, ways I preplan or take care of timing, you know, evolved into that.
And then just personally, I've always been an organized person and, you know, keep track of schedules and stuff.
So that's a great background about me.
Awesome. Well, maybe you can talk a little bit about you said that word preplanning.
And I know you are big on preplanning.
So tell us what that is and what it looks like in your life.
Sure. So preplanning to me is just thinking through what's coming up.
And I think it's a combination of working forwards and backwards.
But a real tangible example, I recently used it with the holidays is when it comes to packing for a trip, I keep a notebook.
And I started this a long time ago because I would every time I'd have a trip, I'd write it on a piece of paper, I would throw the piece of paper out.
Next trip have to remember and this just was not the most efficient thing.
So I grabbed a notebook and I write down when I'm getting ready for a trip.
And what's really helpful is the next trip I have to go on, I have like the template from the previous trip.
And yes, a lot of people can do this in Excel and you can print an Excel spreadsheet.
But what I like is I can flip back to my notes or things that I packed at the last minute or certain destinations like when I go stay with family, I don't need to take a blow dryer.
If I'm staying in a hotel, I might need to.
So it's little things like that, that I feel have saved me so much time over the years.
And also the mental gymnastics of needing to remember to take things on a trip.
Awesome. So that's one example.
That's one example.
Okay, let's get another example of what preplanning looks like.
Preplanning is I keep two small pieces of paper in my kitchen.
One says trash and one says lunch.
And on the days that I have to take trash out the next morning, I put it with my morning walking stuff.
So we'll get to my morning walk and I'm sure later in the episode.
But yes, I could remember to take the trash out, but it removes the mental.
I have to remember to take the trash.
I go to grab my stuff and the note is right there.
Take the trash out and then when I get back in, I put the note away until the next time I need to take trash out.
Same thing if I'm taking lunch and I don't take lunch every day, but I don't want to forget it.
It's just leaving the note there for myself.
So that's part of what I call preplanning.
Cool. You have one more example for us?
I have one more example.
You know, I'm sure I have endless examples.
I think in a work context, what a lot of people forget about or don't realize is preplanning are saving templates for things or whether it's a document or even in an email to save a template or to pull up a previous email that has all the same information and just copy and paste it instead of needing
to start over every time.
Yeah, that's always good because when you're starting from scratch, like the same thing with the trip planning, right?
You are like reinventing a wheel that you didn't have to do.
All this is already there.
Right, right. So why don't you talk a little bit about your routines.
So I understand that you have something of a morning routine as well.
I do have a morning routine.
I walk every morning and this started like years and years ago where I realized after sitting at a desk all day, like I wanted to be more active.
And so I did the I'll start walking before work.
So then had to do the whole adjust my time to get up earlier.
And I did. And at the time I was still living in Michigan, which is where I'm from and rain or shine hot or cold.
I would bundle up and do my morning walk.
And while sometimes it was not comfortable while walking in the cold, like I did like the fact that no matter what happened in my day, I had moved and I'd done something for myself.
And that just continued.
So as jobs changed, I had to adjust my time or as I wanted to walk longer, I had to adjust my time.
No difference than when you're training for a race.
Although I wasn't training for race.
I was just walking.
And then in moving to South Florida, you really have to get up early, especially in the summer if you want to avoid the heat.
So as life has evolved, I definitely am one of those very early alarm clock people.
But I've come to appreciate my morning walk so much that I joke with friends who can't function unless they have their morning coffee.
I've turned into one of those people that can't function unless I have my morning walk.
And what does that tend to look like for you right now?
Like what time are you getting up to go for your morning?
I'm usually getting up a little before five and have all of my stuff laid out already so that I can just throw on the clothes and get out the door.
And then I usually walk for about five miles.
And then I'll come home and finish my morning routine.
But then also on my walks, that's a big part of when I listen to podcasts.
So lots of times you are accompanying me on my morning walks.
Well, only for a couple minutes of it though.
Because how long is it taking you to walk five miles?
That is not a short distance.
It is not a short distance.
It is a lot of before breakfast.
I'm usually up for an hour and a half in the morning.
And that's in a perfect day or perfect conditions.
Weather, time, weather, stuff like that.
It does vary. And if it has to be adjusted for weather or schedule it does.
And what happens if it's thunderstorm, which I hear happens in South Florida?
It depends how stubborn I'm being and or when it starts raining.
You'll time it around the rain or around the lightning.
Okay. Okay. And, you know, that's interesting.
I bet the weather, you know, walking in South Florida is obviously very different weather issues than one encounters in Michigan.
But you actually made a choice to move to South Florida partly for the weather.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Sure. I mean, the short answer is I'm one of those people whose bodies does not do well in cold weather, even though that's where I'm from my entire life.
And so after doctors suggested I move to warm weather, I listened to them and it really has made a difference.
That's awesome. And so you're just listening to podcasts and walking briskly.
I mean, does this ever get boring to you?
That's a good question.
It doesn't because I have some form of entertainment, whether it's listening to podcasts.
My sister lives overseas.
And so it's actually a really great time for us to chat because she'll be in the middle of late morning for her.
My nephews are at school, so I can talk to my sister so I can talk to her.
I can listen to podcasts, but no, it doesn't get boring because I'm outside.
So scenery is always changing.
Whereas if I were on a treadmill for that amount of time, it would be drudgery.
It would be. I can attest to that five miles, even if you're going fast on a treadmill is drudgery.
I love being outside as well.
Well, we're going to take a quick ad break and then I'll be back with more from Amanda Warner.
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I am back. This is a longer episode of Before Breakfast.
We're talking with listener Amanda Warner, who's worked most of her career in commercial real estate.
She currently lives in South Florida.
She's been talking about her five mile long morning walks, which she listens to this podcast and many others since I'm usually only about four or five minutes a day.
I love that routine, Amanda.
Maybe you can tell us a little bit about your lunchtime routine because you mentioned you also are pretty good about the lunchtime break.
Yes. So similar to the reason that I started the morning walk, which was I needed to get out and move my legs.
I also started walking at lunchtime.
I wouldn't say it was the same chapter of life that I did both at the same time, but it kind of evolved that way.
And when I'm in an office environment, I've come to take like a 15, 20 minute walk break.
So it usually ends up being about, it's about a mile, but it's really just to get out of an office, to clear my head.
All the offices I've been in, I've been able to find a nice path or a nice route close to the office.
And it really is just a time for me to clear my head, get space from whatever I'm working on before I then go back in and we'll have a desktop launch or a quick lunch in a break room, depending on the environment in the office.
And I think I get equal parts joking or comments from employees, like co -workers, as well as perhaps respect, like they respect that I'm walking.
They know that I'm going to.
I've been in environments where we eat lunch together and they'll be like, have you walked yet?
We'll wait for you to have lunch when you get back.
Or people who schedule a meeting, but want to make sure it wraps up so I can walk or asked if I've walked today.
So I've taken that as admiration, even when I get jokes about it, but it really does make a difference to just leave.
And, you know, there's so many times you hear people or like you say, it's the stories we tell ourselves that we can't leave the office and we can't take a hard break, but like you can.
And if you're consistent about it, you'll be respected for it.
And so if you were coming into a new situation, I'm curious how you would suggest, you know, approaching this with your co -workers and other people you're working with.
If you're the kind of person who would like to take a walk every day at lunch, what would you suggest saying or doing?
I mean, maybe some advice here.
Sure. So if your start, I mean, for me at this point, like I'm comfortable and confident in the fact that I take a walk at lunch.
So, you know, if it doesn't come up in an interview, it'll usually come up with any, you know, the first day or so I take a walk and I take a quick break to take a quick walk before I have lunch.
And that's just kind of what it is.
But if you're in a role and you've been there for a while and you want to start, honestly, just start one day, just say to the colleague, you know, I'm going, stepping out just, you know, for a walk for a bit, I'll be back.
And if you like it, you just keep going.
And I think if you were to get feedback or pushback, once you've already started, you can kind of get a better sense of it.
So because it's during the day and because we're all allowed our lunch breaks and our personal time, I don't, there shouldn't be an issue.
The only one I can see is, you know, scheduling wise, if you have, if you have shift work, or if you need to be on the phones at a certain time for someone else.
Well, then you might have time restrictions, but I think it's just starting it, seeing how it goes for you.
And then you can give a better response if someone has a concern.
Yeah. Well, and the interesting thing is sometimes with shift work, or when you are specifically like on the phones for a certain amount of times, many of those jobs have more formalized breaks precisely because, you know, everyone has to cover for a certain amount of time.
And so, you know, you've got 15 minutes built in, say twice a day.
And so you could take one of those and go outside.
And to that point, actually, I've thought about that because I've, you know, had employees who are shift workers or who are laborers, you know, thinking like maintenance technicians or janitorial staff, and they have their breaks, you know, it's part of their schedule.
It's also part of their employment contract.
And, you know, many times they're like, unless it's an emergency, don't call me between 12 and 1230.
That's my break. And they take those breaks seriously.
Yet many of us who are in an office environment or have more autonomy over our schedules, we're the ones that say we can't.
But yet we can look to those who have different work structures and we can not every day, but we can.
Yeah. Oh, I'm a big fan of breaks.
I know you are. We recently had an episode when this runs.
There will have been a recent episode when I talk about actually naming breaks that I heard this tip from someone that they named their breaks during the day.
And that, you know, because lunch obviously has a break.
But, you know, what is the mid -afternoon break when you are sleepy and need to do something to wake yourself up?
What is that called?
I don't know. But by formalizing it, you encourage yourself to actually take it.
Yeah. No, breaks are awesome.
Well, I wonder if you have an example of how you have taken a day from great to awesome recently.
Sure. So I've had two.
I can share one that I think will just make anyone's day any time it happens.
I had to park in a parking meter and when I went to go figure out what app I needed for this particular parking meter, there was an hour left in the meter from the previous person.
So I didn't have to put money in the meter.
Nice. Nice. Just like on the app, you were checking the meter and it still said one hour on it because this was a meter that you could do app or coin.
Oh, gotcha. There was an hour left.
So yeah, thank you.
Thank you. Anonymous other.
Exactly. Exactly. So that was, you know, really more of a universal one.
But then a recent, you know, professional one, a colleague and I had started a coffee networking group earlier this year.
And when you start any new group, it's like always a little fledgling.
So we had to cancel a few times because it was only going to be the two of us.
But we kept going. And every time we meet, we've had a handful of meetings and the most recent time, there's about four of us each time, but four different people.
But what made the day great awesome besides having, you know, this coffee with, you know, three people, two of whom never hadn't met each other before was when I asked for feedback for next year, I was thinking about, did we want to do this quarterly or more frequently, less frequently?
And all three of them said, I think we should do it monthly.
And one of them said, because then this way, if we miss a meeting or we have a conflict, we know there's another next month.
We don't have to wait three months.
And to me that really made my day go great to awesome or good to great, because I had started something and it was working and people appreciated it.
So I was really happy about that.
Yeah, well, and I also think that's a good mindset, too, that the more frequent something is, the sort of lower stakes, if people can't make it to one of them, knowing it's happening frequently allows people to build it into their life with the knowledge that life isn't always exactly as we wish it
to be as well. So, well, that's that's a really cool idea.
I love it. We're going to take one more quick ad break and then we'll be back with more from Amanda.
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Wi -Fi hotspot intended for passenger use only when vehicle is in operation, compatible device and vehicle required.
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Well, I am back talking with Amanda Warner, who is a South Florida resident, works in commercial real estate, and is also a long time before breakfast listener that we discuss.
She listens to this sometimes on her epic morning walks that she does the vast majority of days, unless there is, I suppose, a hurricane coming through her part of Florida.
But Amanda, we didn't chat about this earlier, but I hope it's okay for me to ask.
You are a fantastic baker.
Can you talk about how your cookie baking came to be and how that fits in your life?
That fits into my life, yes.
Happy to. And also, I can use, you know, I can talk about pre -planning on now on too.
Oh, yeah. Let's talk about that.
So baking, it's always been one of my hobbies.
I learned it from my mom, like there are pictures, you know, of me on the counter with my mom making banana bread when I was little.
So, you know, I've just always done that.
And a number of years ago, friends said, you should start a business.
And I said, no ganging up on me, but if 10 friends tell me, I'll think about it, or I'll take them seriously.
So I did get the 10 friends started a business and said, if it reaches a point where I don't like baking anymore, I'm stopping because it's my hobby.
It's one of my creative outlets.
And sure enough, after two years, reached that point and closed the business, but kept on baking.
And then last year, I was with a different group of friends, different circumstances in life.
They convinced me to try it again, doing it as a pop -up style.
So I mean, oh, dabbling here and there with pop -up baking on occasion, which I know you are familiar with, but it remains one of my hobbies.
So that's my baking business slash not business slash what I do.
Well, I love the idea of doing it until it's not fun.
I mean, because if something is a side hustle, a hobby, I mean, or either one of those, I mean, when it becomes not fun, then it's like, well, you may as well just do more of your regular job.
Right. Right. Yeah.
And so I'm curious, what makes something, what makes somebody a good baker?
Like, what do you think is your special insight here that a lot of people don't get?
That's a really good question.
I don't know. Because I've always been doing it, but perhaps one thing is, baking versus cooking.
Baking, you need to have more precision.
You need to be one who respects rules and measurements and whatnot.
Whereas cooking, this is not true universally, but cooking, you can just have a lot more freedom.
Measuring is necessary.
And baking, if you don't measure the flour or put in too much liquid, like it's not going to turn out.
And because I don't mind following the rules and I do like the precision, I think that's one of the reasons why I've become a good baker.
I think I took for granted that my mom taught me how to read a recipe when I was a kid.
So I've, you know, have comfort.
I'm comfortable reading recipes.
And then a more tangible thing that I think everyone can relate to while listening is I've learned that the secret to really good cookies is to under bake them.
So take them out before they looked on and then they'll be good.
Then they'll be good.
So you got to watch frequently, take them out before they are even turning into those little hard disks.
Correct. Happens to some of those.
And it's so true on the measuring and things like that.
I read a hilarious thread online.
One of the flour companies that people were posting comments, and it was just silly stuff.
Like I used a little less flour, but it didn't turn out well.
It's like, well, come on.
You can't just do that.
Or I substituted something for the butter and it didn't work.
And I'm like, well, you know, then you need to go find a different recipe.
Right. Like there are recipes out there for cookies that use oil or something like that, but, you know, you need a, you need a recipe that's developed with that in mind.
So Amanda, what is something you are looking forward to right now?
I mean, I guess on the topic of, you know, baking, I've been baking a lot for the holidays.
I often, you know, take it when I'm going to friend's houses or, you know, send it as gifts.
So definitely, you know, enjoying baking.
And then really just looking forward to the new year, I've got a lot of, I have some trips planned, I have some events coming up.
So really it's just that fresh start of a new year.
Do you set a lot of resolutions?
I'm not a big resolution person.
I guess I would say I'm more goal oriented.
So then again, that could be a matter of semantics.
So not so many resolutions, but things I want to just be aware of or, you know, work towards.
And do you actually resolve to continue with your walking habit or is it so ingrained in me that it's just, I just do it autopilot.
Do it autopilot. Well, that's the best kind of habit, right?
I don't even need to think about it.
Wonderful. Well, Amanda, thank you so much for joining us and thank you to everyone who's been listening to this episode.
If you have feedback on this episode or others or have ideas of people you'd like to hear from, because we're definitely going to hear from some more before breakfast listeners in these longer episodes, let me know.
You can always reach me at lauraatlauravandercam .com.
And 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 lauraatlauravandercam .com.
Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Media.
For more podcasts from I Heart Media, please visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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And get this, it's the first and only prescription app authorized by the FDA to treat depression symptoms.
Rejoin does not replace your current medication.
Be sure to use as directed by your healthcare provider.
And if your depression symptoms worsen, seek help immediately.
Get started today by talking to your healthcare provider or visiting meetrejoin .com.
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