This is an IHeart podcast.

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 improve your defaults.

Much of what we do in life is routine, which means that small changes can make a big difference.

Today's tip was inspired by my recent September reset project.

During the month of September, I had lots of people track their time

and then try using some of my favorite time management strategies in their lives.

They then reflected on the results.

Some of those strategies involved planning in new things like adventures,

and evening intentions, and open space. One of the challenges people faced was overcoming the

inertia of doing the same things over and over again. And don't get me wrong, routines can be great. They can make good choices,

automatic, but some defaults aren't so positive. For instance, a lot of people have the default

that once they get their kids in bed at night, or once they finish their chores, they sit down and watch

something. If it's a favorite show that was planned for and anticipated, great. If it's just

screen time because that's the default, well, does that have to be the default? Maybe the default

could be 20 minutes of hobby time, and then screens, or 20 minutes of

chatting or reading, and then screens. Even if one party definitely wants to zone out on the

couch, that doesn't mean everyone needs to. You might set your default that you sit with your

partner on the couch, but you read with headphones in. You might set your default that you sit with your partner on the couch, but you read with

headphones in. You are there, but being together doesn't require that your default be something

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