Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

Good morning.

This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast Podcast.

Today's tip is about one way to respond to constraints.

Make the constraint a challenge.

How we frame our circumstances matters a lot for how we feel about them.

Framing a constraint as a challenge creates an opportunity for fun, even if the constraint itself isn't exactly what we hoped for.

So I have no doubt that you can reel off a list of constraints that you've experienced over this past year.

Perhaps your refrigerator went out and you had to wait days for the part that was needed

because of shipping delays. Or maybe you wanted to upgrade your work from home setup,

but you didn't want to spend a lot of money.

You hope to celebrate a family birthday,

but the need for social distancing limited your options.

Or the all-too-obvious constraint that I know a lot of people are dealing with.

You have a job to do, and no child care or in-person school for your kids.

These are all non-ideal situations, but trying to view them as challenges can open up new ways of thinking.

While you wait for your fridge to be repaired, you could see how many delicious pantry meals you could make.

Or you could imagine that you're testing out meals for your

next camping trip when you won't have a fridge available. Or rather than feeling

limited by a meager home office budget, you might imagine that you're part of a decorating

challenge on the do-it-yourself network. Repurpose furniture from elsewhere in your

...