The Before Breakfast Podcast and My Example of Keeping Small Things Small

Since doing these daily blog posts, I have the opposite of writer's block. I have writer's overflow! (By the way, I made up the phrase "writer's overflow." It's not really a "thing" yet.). It means I have too many things I want to write about!

I've been using little experiences that happen to me each day as "prompts"...  things I can write about and somehow work an Agile lesson into my story.  Many of the "little experiences that happen to me" are articles I read or podcasts I listen to.

I want to respond to almost every podcast, but I'm usually out walking when I'm listening to podcasts, which doesn't make it a very convenient time to respond or comment on something interesting.

Today, I listened to several episodes of The Before Breakfast Podcast by Laura Vanderkam. I discovered her podcast when I was featuring the Joy Makeover on my own podcast and did an episode about Time and Joy.

Since Laura gives quick little tips and stories about Time Management and Productivity (a topic that's front and center in my Agile Coach brain), I want to respond to every one of her podcast episodes! I also want to copy her podcasting format - Her episodes are short and to the point.  (These are both areas that I could stand to improve on my podcast...  and, perhaps, this blog post..)

Her episode about Keeping Small Things Small, is the closest example that relates to the story I had planned to write today.  In it, Laura reminds us that we have several choices of what we can do when little things irritate us.  We often can ignore it, or if we address it, we can choose to do it in a way that hopefully will be positive for everyone.

Laura invites her listeners to share examples with her at beforebreakfastpodcast@iheartmedia.com, so here's mine:

My story is about my new ophthalmologist's office, Boulder Eye Surgeons. I blogged the other day about the advances in eye surgery and how super excited I am about the possibility of getting Light Adjustable Lenses.  However, before making this big decision, I had quite a few questions.

When I called the office to see how I could get my questions answered, they said I'd have to come in for an appointment.  Happily, there wouldn't be any charge for this appointment, but when I asked if we could do it over the phone, they said no, because "they don't do it that way."

Now, normally, even though this seemed unnecessary, I would have just complied without complaint. But I've been avoiding driving anywhere because my eyes are really bad! That's why I'm getting the surgery!  On top of that, there are all these pandemic restrictions and at the last appointment I had there was a long wait. It all seemed very inefficient and unnecessary to me.  I started to think if this office is so inflexible, do I really want to trust them with this surgery?

I documented all my questions so I'd be very prepared for the visit and decided I'd just deal with the commute and wait time.  But on the morning of the visit, the weather was bad, and I decided to send an email with all my questions, asking if there might be a way to work through a portal or through email to avoid the visit.

The doctor responded immediately answering all my questions.  I called the office to let them know that I wouldn't need the appointment and they happily said, "Yup! We already have you cancelled."

I felt much better that the doctor took the time to respond and that the office was able to be flexible about their usual procedures.  I got a couple of hours back to my day and didn't have to stress about driving with poor eyesight.  Even though I'm still kind of nervous about the surgery, I have a much better feeling of trust for the doctor and the practice because they found a way to get my questions answered without requiring me to come into the office.