This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.
Run a business and not thinking about podcasting?
Think again.
More Americans listen to podcasts than add supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora.
And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined.
Learn how podcasting can help your business.
Call 844-844-iHeart.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that when you feel impatient or irritated with another person, consider whether you would want to swap situations with them.
Often, thinking about what they might be dealing with can nudge us toward a little more empathy, or at least suggest more effective ways of communicating with them.
So I recently heard of a person complaining about an interaction with a difficult colleague but then saying I wouldn't want to swap inboxes with her.
In other words, yes, the person is a pain to work with.
But she has a job that is often tedious and difficult, and her inbox is one headache after another.
So perhaps she warrants a little compassion.
I think it is a good mindset in general.
When someone is behaving badly, think, would you want to swap with them?
I sometimes get irritated when someone honks or does something rude while driving, but I try to think well hey, I am driving back to my beautiful family and my beautiful home and I have no idea what that person is so upset with in life, but I have no good reason to be.
Wouldn't want to swap.
When you are frustrated with your interactions with someone, it might help to imagine you had their inbox, their to-do list, their calendar, their irritations, their stresses.
That person who was curt at the store may have been dealing with rude customers all day.
The stressed physician may have just been delivering bad news to three patients in a row, right before you.
That doesn't mean it's okay to be grumpy or impatient.
But if you pictured yourself swapping situations with the person, you might feel pretty irritated with the world as well.
Even people you know reasonably well can have their trials.
You might actually know more about these when you think about it.
It is annoying to hear from a former colleague exactly twice a year and always when she needs something from you.
But hey, it would be frustrating to have gone through a series of jobs in rapid succession and to be repeatedly doing this networking from a place of need.
You wouldn't want to swap with that situation.
Realizing that will probably nudge you to help, if you can.
If nothing else, asking what it would be like to swap with a person might give you ideas for better communication.
For instance, if your kids are grown up but a colleague has three children ages six and under who need to be delivered to separate daycares and before-school programs each day, you might recognize that swapping your morning routines would make you stressed too.
This is not the time to be texting your colleague with last-minute requests for your 9 a.m. meeting.
Best to get those in the day before.
If you know someone gets a ton of email, if you picture yourself with that inbox, you'd know that you would want succinct messages with the question in the subject line.
So send those kinds of emails to that person.
We can never understand another person's experience fully.
But when we give a little thought to what it could be like to swap with them, we may find ourselves being more patient and perhaps more effective.
Those are always good things.
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 iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast.
This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families.
Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime.
The perpetrator was sentenced to 99 years until a confession changed everything.
I was a monster.
Listen to Burden of Guilt, Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Amanda Knox and in the new podcast Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letbe, we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023.
But what if we didn't get the whole story?
The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapsed.
What if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe?
Oh my God, I think she might be innocent.
Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letbe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human.
