Book the sitter (literally and metaphorically)
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What is the main tip for creating conditions that make fun easy?
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Lisa? Tell them about our new show. We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Yuanu. We're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa Di Giulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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How does the “booking a sitter” story illustrate simplifying date nights?
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast Podcast. Today's tip. is to create the conditions for fun. Put systems in place to make fun easy and And you are more likely to do the things that will bring you joy. Today's tip, like several this week, comes from my most recent book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance. In the book I share an example of a couple who had a set of grandparents offer to come over every Friday night to babysit. Previously, if the couple wanted to go out on a Friday night, it involved the logistics of booking a sitter and then paying the sitter for her time. To make this all worth it, they had to be pretty sure that the date night they were dreaming up was
was going to be wonderful.
Why does having a literal sitter change the cost‑benefit calculation for couples?
But with the grandparents coming over every Friday night, this calculation changed. They didn't have to justify going out. They were going out on Friday night, regardless. So rather than debating whether something was worth the time and effort, they started looking for ways to fill this time. And as a result, They had a lot more unexpected and varied fun. I love the idea of booking the sitter literally and metaphorically. How do you put the pieces in place so the default is to do something fun? For starters, if you do have young kids, I think there is something to booking a literal sitter. Maybe you decide one night a week is date night. You schedule a sitter to keep your kids every Friday, and suddenly every Friday is date night, like for the couple in my book.
If you already enjoy a lot of time with your partner, or if you don't have a partner, you could book a literal sitter so that you can go out with friends or pursue a hobby on a regular basis.
How can you apply the “book the sitter” concept metaphorically to your own schedule?
But I think we can also interpret book the sitter metaphorically. What structures can you put in place in your life so that fun is easy? For instance, if you decide you are getting together with friends every Wednesday evening, maybe you don't schedule work meetings to start after four o'clock. So you know that you can make a five thirty PM happy hour meetup. You don't agree to volunteer commitments on Wednesday evenings. You don't even plan to pick up the dry cleaning. The time is protected. Likewise, if you want to spend more time at museums, you could schedule yourself to get into work an hour or so early every Thursday, and then block off noon to two o'clock for a lunchtime museum visit. The time is already protected.
No video calls, no dentist appointments, no work lunches. So when Thursday lunch rolls around, All you have to do is decide what exhibit you want to go see.
What practical scheduling tricks help protect time for friends, hobbies, or museums?
When you get something on your calendar in a recurring way and have all the pieces in place to make it work, you are a lot more likely to do the special thing you set out to do. If you didn't have your Thursday long lunch blocked off, an exhibit would have to be really important to you. Before you would be willing to rearrange work meetings to go. Likewise, the couple in my book had a high bar for scheduling date nights before the grandparents started keeping the kids every week. But when the time is already booked and the infrastructure is in place, you are open to more possibilities. And you will probably have a lot more fun. If you try booking the Metaphorical Setter, I would love to hear about what activity you want to do more of and what you do to make it easy.
You can tell me about it at Laura. at Laura Vandercam dot com In the meantime This is Laura. Thanks for listening.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main tip for creating conditions that make fun easy?
0:00–0:45
2
How does the “booking a sitter” story illustrate simplifying date nights?
0:45–1:42
3
Why does having a literal sitter change the cost‑benefit calculation for couples?
1:42–2:49
4
How can you apply the “book the sitter” concept metaphorically to your own schedule?
2:49–3:48
5
What practical scheduling tricks help protect time for friends, hobbies, or museums?
3:48–4:47
6
How does recurring calendar blocking increase the likelihood of having fun?
4:47–5:52
7
What should listeners do if they want to share their own “book the sitter” experiences?
5:52–6:48