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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that you can make a ritual or tradition feel even more special by giving it a name.
Giving something a name makes it feel distinct.
It becomes a character in your life and in your memory, which ultimately gives it a place of honor.
Today's tip, like another one we'll talk about this week, comes from Happier Hour, a book by UCLA Business School professor, Cassie Holmes, on how to spend your time well.
Holmes writes about how she and her preschool-aged daughter had a weekly coffee date that they both loved.
So they wanted to make it feel even more special.
As Holmes put it, they turned routine into ritual and made it a thing.
Holmes explains, Traditions imbue these passing moments with greater meaning.
Traditions serve to connect us to each other and across time.
They give us a sense of belonging.
Holmes and her daughter did a lot of things to make their coffee dates feel more special.
But one approach deserves attention because it is so easy to replicate.
They gave the experience a name.
It became the Thursday morning coffee date. using capital letters.
Now this may seem like a small thing, but when something has a formal name, it becomes more formal.
It feels more important.
Just as an example.
There is nothing stopping you from gathering with friends and family to give thanks on the fourth Thursday of November, just to do so.
But by calling it Thanksgiving dinner, we create weight for the occasion.
And we think about how we will do it year to year and how we did it last year and what we like to see and eat.
And we build it into the mental landscape of that time of year.
Likewise, two people can get coffee and a muffin most Thursdays with no particular ceremony.
But by calling it the Thursday morning coffee date, it becomes more of an institution.
No doubt Holmes and her daughter would talk about it ahead of time or say remember when this happened at the last Thursday morning coffee date.
I will add to this that if you give something a name, then turning it into an acronym can make it feel even a little bit more special, because you know the acronym as an insider.
Back when I was a freshman in high school.
I remember that four senior girls took out an ad in the yearbook about Jack.
Those four letters were the first letters of their names.
Now, who knows whatever became of Jack, as these ladies are all grown up now, but they made it very clear that their foursome was an institution.
Do you have any routines that you'd like to make even more special and transform into a tradition?
Perhaps you walk with your kids to school on Wednesdays, or you have Sunday morning waffles, or you generally have lunch with your direct reports on Fridays.
Try giving these routines a name.
The names don't have to be particularly poetic, and often they'll emerge naturally.
It's just a matter of noticing them and formalizing them by capitalizing the name and then using the same name all the time.
For instance, if your walk to school becomes the Wednesday walk, then instead of hollering at the kids to hurry up, we'll be late you start hollering.
We need to do the Wednesday walk.
Or your Sunday waffles could become the waffle wake up.
People love alliteration.
Maybe you start calling your Friday lunches your celebration lunches, as a way to get people to focus on everything that went right during the week.
When we give our habits and routines names as part of transforming them into traditions, we create opportunities to recognize meaning in our everyday lives.
Ordinary experiences can become extraordinary.
They connect us to each other and to our past and to our future.
If you give a routine a name and transform it into a tradition, I'd love to hear about it.
You can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com.
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 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.
2%.
That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available.
I'm Michael Easter and on my podcast 2 I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness and building resilience in our strange modern world.
Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.
Listen to 2%.
That's T-W-O percent on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
On the Serving Pancakes podcast, conversations about volleyball go beyond the court.
Today we have a little best friend compatibility test.
Okay, how long have we been best friends?
Since the day we met.
As the League One volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in.
You'll hear unfiltered analysis behind the scenes, stories and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport.
Whether you're following the final push of love season or just love the game, Serving Pancakes brings you closer to the action and the people shaping the future of volleyball.
Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Serving Pancakes and listen now.
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