Hi.
I'm Laura Vanderkamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist, and speaker.
And I'm Sarah Hart Hunger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer, and course creator. We are two working parents who love our careers and our families.
Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about how real women manage work, family, and time for fun, from figuring out childcare to mapping out long.
Term career goals.
We want you to get the most out of life.
Welcome the best of both worlds. This is Laura.
This episode is airing in mid January of twenty twenty six. We are going to be talking about nearly effortless good habits. So there is a certain cynicism out there about New Year's resolutions that they are destined to fail. I was just reading a statistic that has been batted around a lot that's something like ninety one percent of New Year's resolutions fail.
I don't think they have to.
I think the problem is that people set really ambitions, ones that have no chance of succeeding in life as it actually is. But there are lots of small things that people can do differently if they want, and can usually stick with them if they want as well. I mean, Sarah, why do resolutions tend to fail? Or what makes some happen more than others? Yeah, I have a couple thoughts on that. I mean, the first is that I guess
I will just caveat that. I don't think a person not meeting every single goal in their list is an overall fail. If you set ten goals and you meet six of them, you might have done six really awesome things. That's something to be celebrated, not oh I failed, So that's number one and number two. I do think like the goals that are at highest risk of failing are I've thought about this. It's the size, it's the emotional intimidation or emotional fraughtness, or maybe they lack any degree
of urgency or accountability. And then also that will relate to this episodisde Habit goals can be really dangerous because if you're setting a habit goal, it means you're setting out to do something multiple times. And because you're setting it, it's probably something you failed to do in the past.
So setting it without a very clear strategy as to what makes this round different from before is really kind of dangerous. Territory. If you're going to set your habit goals, you better be thinking about what's going to support that, what's going to make this easier, and what it's going to make this experience different than it has been in years past.
Yeah, So I think aiming for simple, Aiming for something that is often set to a specific time of day or is tied into something else that you already do that might be enjoyable.
Right, That would deal with the motivation aspect.
But really and then having a good reason for doing it is all things that would help with that. But I had this post on my vander Hack's substack newsletter a couple months ago or a couple weeks ago that was about Laura's little list of nearly effortless good habits, and I heard from a certain reader known as Sarah Hartunger that she's.
Like, I like this, So we thought, you know, we can share some effortless good habits on this episode as well.
Right, Yeah, I loved this list. It made me think and I thought it would be a really fun thing to talk about on the show. If you are not subscribed to vander Hacks, you're missing out, that is my opinion.
Well, we can talk about some nearly effortless good habits. We can talk about some bad habits that we can try to avoid. We will pivot toward that at the end of this episode. But if you are looking for some substitute New Year's resolutions, maybe you haven't really thought about it, or the ones you've set are no longer appealing to you.
Already here in mid January.
Maybe some of these will be good, so we'll go ahead and start with them. My first one is to add a library stop into your weekly or perhaps bi weekly schedule. Right, so many people say they want to read more in the new year, or even set a goal for the number of books they will read. But reading a lot means always having compelling books on hand. And it is much easier to have compelling books on hand if you are constantly bringing in a fresh supply
of books that look appealing to you. So one way to do that without going broke is to stop by the library regularly. So I've built this into my life
this year. My youngest child sings in the church children's choir, and they have rehearsals at a certain night per week where it works for me to pick him up and the large branch library in my community is fairly close to the church, so I can go there because I have more or less exhausted the sort of books I like at my local branch library, which is much smaller.
Sarah, you do this right, Yeah, I mean I tend to do a lot of ordering of books like on reserve, and then I'm very lucky in that my library is on my commute home, so I tend to build it in. I wouldn't say I have a regular day, although it does absolutely appeal to me to just think, like on Wednesdays, I always stop at the library and pick up my holds and return what I'm finished with. So I might make this a little bit more of a regular occasion based on this recommendation.
Well, see, I'm not putting lists of books I want to read for me, it's the discovery factor, Like I like to look at the shelves and see, ooh that looks appealing, And one of the things I often get
is coffee table books. And this is a very conscious way to reduce the tendency to scroll because I am looking at beautiful photos of like nicely decorated houses or vacation destinations or things like that beautiful gardens, which is exactly the sort of thing I would be looking at on Instagram, but in analog form, I love.
It, and probably a lot more in most cases, a lot more effort to when into each page than each story, perhaps exactly.
All right, Sarah, what's next next?
Is from Laura. I will add water on your nightstand and drink some of it when you wake up. So I read all these habits, and many of them I'm like, ooh, I would totally do that, or I already do that, and this one I'm like, Nope, not happening. I am not a thirsty human. I wrote that on the human spectrum of thirst on the scale of one to ten, I am a zero. I believe it's genetic. My sister is the same way. I do drink water in the morning with my coffee, mostly because I need a vehicle
to like take my vitamins and my cardiac medicine. But yeah, I don't need the water on my nightstand. I would just spill it. But if you do, you should.
You could put it in a water bottle and then that makes it less likely to spill. But I do you drink it when I get up in the morning.
I mean, I like to have it there in case I wake up in the middle of the night and decide I am thirsty, since I am not a zero on a one to ten scale.
I did not know this about you, Sarah.
I haven't noticed, like when we're hanging out, like, oh, Sarah never has a glass of water. Sarah never has a water like This isn't something I've seen.
But it was handy in my running days because I would never carry water.
But then how do you keep, like medically from having a problem.
Well, when I was running in the heat, I would drink water every few miles, but I just never needed it so desperately that I wanted to carry it with me. And I guess I just drink just enough to maintain my equilibrium.
So yeah, things we didn't know we now know about Sarah that she apparently does not experience thirst like the rest of us. So Sarah, okay. Number three, Plan your listening material. So if you spend a lot of solo time in the car, this time can be spent listening to random things, or it can be spent listening to
intentional things. So simply as part of your daily planning, like if you have a time where you plan your day, which I hope you do that you set out your to do list for work, or your intentions for your golden hours, whatever it is. Think about what you will be listening to while you are driving around in the car.
Now.
Obviously, if you're driving people with you, you can talk to them, but if there's solo time in the car, is there a particular podcast like this one you might want to listen to, or is there some sort of cool music you would like to listen to a particular audiobook, But some way to use this time intentionally so it does not feel like a complete waste of time totally.
I curate my podcast playlist regularly, and I even have different shows that I really like for different days, so you could curate your you know, a typical Friday commute home. I love NPR's New Music Friday. We got Laura's Long Before Breakfast episodes on Wednesdays, you got Bestly Plans on Mondays, and Best of Both Worlds on Tuesdays. So really, you just need something for Thursday, or if you're in the car a lot, you need more, But you know true,
but yes, I love that all right. Number four was probably inspired by Laura's New Year's resolution in twenty twenty five is eat produce for breakfast. And I was thinking about this, and I think I do this automatically as well. It's just always fruit and not vegetables. I feel like vegetables would be like the level up version of this goal. Are you still doing this, Laura?
I am.
I am still having it produce for breakfast. But yes, it is almost always fruit for me because that seems to feel better in the morning than really going overboard on the vegetables. Although I'm not a posed like the can me great, you know, like an omelet with mushrooms or broccoli or something like that.
That would be very tasty, And I'm.
Not that organized in the morning to make it, but I'm sure some people are and that would be great.
But I have been doing this for the past year.
It is so easy, and I'm pretty sure I've been eating more fruit as a result, because it nudges you to have fruit in the house so that you can eat it for breakfast, and you tend not to only buy a serving for breakfast, like you will buy six apples instead of one apple, and then you've got more apples in the house. That need to get eaten, or bananas, and then before they go bad, you wind up eating them or something. But it's not hard, and it is
a way to eat more good stuff. All Right, we're going to take a quick ad break and then we'll be back talking with nearly effruitless good habits. Well, we are back talking through a list of nearly effortless good habits. If your original New Year's resolutions are either not happening or feeling like they're very big and not giving you that sort of daily boost of motivation that you want, here are some substitute ones you might try.
So our next one is to downsize a little.
So if there is any treat that you consume close to daily, and if there is a convenient way to make it slightly smaller, you can wind up making it a little bit still fun but not feel quite so over the top indulgent. And because it is done so frequently, the savings on that.
Part can add up.
So in my case, I am a nearly daily consumer of Starbucks strawberry aside lemonade refres.
I did not know I had reached this fever pitch of nearly daily, okay really daily.
My kids got me hooked.
But during the past year I went from Venti down to Grande on my regular orders. So it's too just a little bit less sugar, and I don't really miss the extra volume. It's it's the first couple of SIPs that are good. It's not the fiftieth step.
I don't really need that one.
So, you know, with any sort of treat, like kitty sized ice cream cone, right, like if you are a regular visitor to an ice cream parlor, you know once or twice a week, like getting the kiddy cone instead of the bigger one. You still get those first bites, which are the ones you want. It's the others that you maybe don't need as much.
Oh yeah, the mini size of dairy Quain is the best. And I will add to this the option of sharing. So I often do this with like one of my kids at a restaurant, because like a restaurant sized burger and fries is definitely enough for two meals. So we'll just split one and then get like share a side salad or some kind of appetizer that's a little healthier, and it's like a great balance and we're all happy and cost us too, all right. Number six put exercise
on your to do list or on your calendar. Yes, I one hundred percent agree with that. That is part of my weekly planning process every week to I don't really have to decide when I do it because the timeslot is so automatic for me. But I decide what I'm going to do each day and I love seeing it there. It's like a not a guarantee, but just built into my day like anything else. Is that how you do it as well?
Yeah, I mean I don't even necessarily set a time. I might think about a rough time when I would do it. But we're recording this on a Wednesday, and I tend to make Wednesdays to do list on Tuesday at the end of the workday, and so I made my list of what do I need to do on Wednesday?
And on that list I put run And so I will run, like because I tend to obey the to do list, right, and I know there is a spot in my schedule where it fits, like if every minute were accounted for, and that would I didn't have it budgeted on my schedule for that that wouldn't work. But it's not that sort of day. I have an opening where I can see that it could go. Now, if you are very tightly scheduled, you might need to be a little bit more.
Careful with this.
But even if it's just a fifteen minute walk, like looking at your schedule and saying, oh, well, this is a thirty minute meeting at eleven, and then I have a meeting at twelve, but that thirty minutes is open. I could go walk for fifteen minutes and then check my email while eating my sandwich before.
Going to my noon meeting.
So putting it on your to do list or schedule means it happens the next one number seven. Think about Saturday by Wednesday. So I have a little bit of an elaborate approach to weekend planning where I tend to plan my weekends twice. As I plan my weeks on Thursday or Friday, I'm looking forward to the next Monday to Sunday week, So then I plan the far out weekend, and then I plan the one that is happening in two days much more tightly, knowing the weather and other
things that have come up. Most people are not going to plan their weekends twice, but if you at least think about what you're going to do, on the weekend. By Wednesday or so, you'll have more options, like if you need a babysitter, if you need to make a reservation, if you want to do a half day trip somewhere, Like you're not going to wake up on Saturday morning and think, let's all get in the car and go to this place, like nobody's going to have the energy to do it.
Like, you have to decide that ahead of time.
So giving yourself some moment on your Wednesday schedule to think through the weekend will increase the odds of having good weekends. Well.
I especially love this given that Wednesday has become a bigger and bigger planning day for me with my current rhythms. So I like it all right. The next one is one that is very aspirational for me. I like the idea, I don't think I can actually do it, and that is to check email on the hour. And Laura had written in her habits vander Hack's post, we all know it's best to check email less frequently. I know it can be hard to pull off if people are expecting responses.
So for me, it is not that people are expecting response and says it's that of all the vices and like dopamine hits that one could be attracted to in the world. I don't do any social media anymore. I'm just sort of like left with email, and I find it very hard to resist when I am in moments of downtime checking my email. Now, sometimes I'm busy enough that that doesn't happen every hour, so great, But if I happen to, i don't know, be doing something very
boring like catching up on charts or something. It's very hard for me to do this. So I guess I'm just going to share my real world experience. Lest anyone listen to this and think, wow, these two are just making every habit sound incredibly easy when I don't. Well, for me, this one would be difficult. It sounds awesome. Maybe I'll try to focus on it at one point, but sounds challenging.
So to be clear, the idea of checking email on the hour is to get people to check email less. Yes, yeah, because I know that many people through the workday are sort of constantly in their inbox, and the problem with that is that you feel busy, but you aren't getting much done beyond response to things like you're not doing any of the things that you need to execute on, Like your day kind of goes back and forth between email and meetings, and sometimes even during the meetings, you're
multitasking your email. So rather than have that happen and feel like you've gotten through the whole day and haven't gotten to anything other than the email, check on the
hour and then get out of it. Right So, if you're in your inbox, like be in it for ten to fifteen minutes or whatever, and then don't be after that, because that will open up time for you to think to do other projects, and then you could go back in on the hour and you can sort of nudge yourself to wait forty minutes and know that you're still being responsive, Like most people will not notice that you're not responding for like forty five minutes, but that at least buys you some additional time.
Totally makes sense, and maybe that is something I will aim for in the future, because I do see the rationale behind it. And to be clear, I don't check it all day long. It's just that when I get in so and moods or certain loops, that is the one one of those things I sort of can't resist and you're using the opal app on This is that I am currently using the opal app actually, and I really like it. I am trying to debate whether I need the paid version or whether I can just use
the free version. But you can set certain times where and I did set my email as something I want to do less of, so that if I do want to check my email, it'll still let me the way I have it set, but I have to like wait for the thing to like do a break, And honestly it has been a bit of a deterrent. Plus I really like the you can tell how many breaks you're It gives you more insight compared to screen time, which really, honestly, I feel like has worked worse and worse over the years,
probably on purpose. So it's been helpful to be like, oh wow, that was my fifth break, Like it's someone's keeping track, you know, so.
To unneat this break, I don't know, yeah, maybe I didn't. The next one, number nine is to end your meetings ten minutes early. So if you are in charge of meetings, give yourself and your tea members a few minutes to decompress and to process any to do's coming out of those meetings by ending on the fifty minute mark.
Instead of on the hour mark.
And I guess the other version of this, if thirty minute meetings, try and be done that like twenty minutes if you can. Twenty minutes doesn't feel rude if somebody has to you to have a meeting, like if you're off the phone in twenty minutes, but it still buys you a little bit of breathing room in your schedule. Now, obviously, if you are not in charge of the meeting, it
can be harder to make this happen. But try to get the agenda for any meeting ahead of time, and if you can help edit it to make it only take fifty minutes, that would be great. You can also offer to be the timekeeper and to keep people on schedule so that you end on time and get everyone off to their next thing.
Yeah, and I would say, at best, please don't go over the time allotted for the meeting. I mean, unless there's an emergency. Realize that some people may consider it really really frustrating and disrespectful. I may or may not be one of those people. So yeah, there you go, all right, Number ten move by three pm or it writes ten minutes of movement by midday is pretty easy
and forces you to build in a real break. I love that I generally exercise before three pm, in part because I know myself and I don't really enjoy afternoon or evening workouts, So I really like to do that in the morning. And I would even add to that, maybe aim to make ten minutes of that movement outside if you can.
If you can't, yeah, well, and to be clear here, I'm not even talking about doing a full on, like hour long gym workout. Do that by three pm. Say just move your body for ten minutes by three pm.
That is a lot easier to pull off.
It's just you know, going up and down the stairs a few times, if it's walking your kid to the bus stop and then taking a walk around the block on the way home. But something to not have been sitting for ten hours by three pm.
That's the goal here. Awesome, all right.
Number eleven. Look at your goals frequently. Yes, I'm a huge fan of this, in part because with the planning system that I teach and my courses and everything talks about looking at your annual goals every season and your changestal goals every month, et cetera, et cetera. You will not remember your annual goals if you do not pull
them out at some point throughout the year. And in my opinion, it's best to do that systematically, not just assume, oh yeah, you know, I'll do that when the spirit moves me.
Yeah. I mean, if you're going to bother to set goals, you should look at them. And it's not a hard thing to do.
You just have to have them somewhere that you can see them. So figure out where is the place that you will see these goals.
And where will you look at them? When will you look at them?
And that in and of itself is more likely to have you stick with them. All right, We're going to do one more before our second ad break, and this one is.
To capture it.
So stop telling yourself that you will remember things, because you won't. If something occurs to you, either put it on your calendar or planner immediately, or else email it to yourself so you can process it to those places later.
I hard agree, and I will say my latest thing is to make sure that if I get a text that needs a response and I can't respond at that moment, make sure to leave it unread, so I don't mistakenly bypass it. All right, we'll be back in just a couple minutes with number thirteen.
Well, we are back with our list of nearly effortless good habits. These are little things that you can try as resolutions. If your big ones aren't happeninggger or are not particularly motivating to you anymore, you might try adding these in. Or if you haven't thought of all your resolutions, these are ones you can add to the list.
So number thirteen is to trash or recycle junk mail immediately.
Obviously, it's even better if you can stop it from coming, and there are places you can go to opt out of various mailings. But if you can't do that, or you don't, just don't let it linger on the counter or in a basket.
It makes everything feel more cluttered.
As you get it from the mailbox, walk it straight to the recycling been or trash unless you are.
Keeping it totally.
Agree process mail every day, and I would add to that, do not keep any newspaper once you've received the next one. So if you get it daily, get rid of the next days. If you get it weekly, get rid of it by the time the next week rolls around.
I'll argue on the magazine ones, I'm happy that I've kept some of my old magazines because I like looking back at like the holiday issues, you know, in years in the future, especially the ones that aren't publishing anymore, like Martha Stewart Living.
But hey, yeah, I figured the magazines might be a little more debatable. But nobody needs to keep their newspapers. So this next one is to set a bedtime. Now you do not have to observe it. That's why this is a really nearly effortless good habit. It's more that you just know what your bedtime is. You are grown up, and you can decide to blow past it.
But knowing what time you should get in bed on weekdays can nudge you to make it happen slightly more often, especially if you set some sort of reminder for thirty minutes prior in order to start winding down.
Yeah, and since I complained about Apple, I will say Apple does do a decent job that you can set a wind down. It will tell you on your watch, it will tell you on your device, It will even change your screen color, all sorts of things to remind you and I think that can actually be useful for many people whose device might be one of the key culprits in keeping them from going to bed.
All right.
The next one is to schedule a quarterly pickup. This is another one for me that I was thinking that this would be hard, but then I was reading it, I'm like, well, she doesn't mean a quarterly clean out your house, but just to make sure you have someone coming every few months to take your stuff, and that that might move you to have donations set aside. That
feels a little bit more doable to me. I also, some people may live in a neighborhood like mine that has a bulk pickup schedule, so that you know that there's a day every month. Make sure you know what that day is so that you can then go through the house and take advantage of it, as it's a service you're probably paying for whether you use.
It or not.
Yeah, there's lots of companies like green Drop will come to your house if you schedule a pickup and you put your donations on the and sometimes just knowing that day is coming up is going to make you get rid of a few more things than you would have otherwise. So I think we'll just do maybe two more of our good habits. This one is very easy and fun,
which is to find an accountability partner. So no need for anything fancy, but just find someone in your life that you will check in, maybe just via email once a week or so, about how life is going and if you are making progress on any sort of long term projects or goals, or just sort of updating on any issues you're having and weighing in on it.
But just so you have you might make progress on your goals, just so you have something to email to this person about.
Yeah, I definitely have text friends, and I feel like I discuss goals with which I love, so can be informal and then evolve into something where you really check in with each other. Well, we can't skip track your time. That's number seventeen. Laura says it's effortless. But if it were so effortless, would I be able to do it more insistantly? I love tracking my time on a like one off basis, but a couple of weeks per season.
So this is my plug to try it, even if it's not something you want to do all of the time.
Absolutely all right, And now we're going to pivot to a list of little habits not to do so small bad habits that maybe this is the year to kick first one hitting snooze. Sarah, you're with me on this one.
Right, I am so with you. That would have been the first one you came up with that, and I'm like, hey, that was going to be my first one. I just I don't see the appeal. You're ruining your sleep, but you're not getting up. Why it's the worst of all situations.
Yeah, if you're going to wake up later, just set your alarm for that time and enjoy every single minute of sleep up until that moment, right, Like, be honest about it, Like it would be better to sleep for another twenty seven minutes than to wake up every nine minutes three times like that.
It just sounds terrible.
I think there are some people who might defend their snooze by saying, well, I kind of want warning and like maybe I'll sleep lighter over those nine minutes, and like it's I don't know, so I mean, to be fair, I'm not someone who has trouble getting up, so for me to be like this is so dumb. Maybe that's unfair for people who find it really hard to get up in the morning. But I would say, try life without it.
But then maybe we should go to bed earlier the night before. Yeah, true, is that a bedtime?
Yes?
That was number.
I don't know it was.
We already talked about it. Yes, Yes, snoozing not so great. Don't keep reading a book you hate, Sarah. Is this a one for you?
Yeah?
I have done this, especially if I get it's not a problem if I hate it like ten pages in, I am pretty okay at abandoning a book fro I'm just like, nope, not for me. But when I get like eighty or one hundred pages in, oh man, it can be really hard. Just admit to myself, like it's just better to cut bait. But I really think it does prevent us from reading more and it takes the fun out of reading. So I'm really going to try not to do this habit, and you should too.
Absolutely, I will abandon a book.
I abandon a book like two hundred pages in to a three hundred and fifty page book, so I you know, I feel like I got it at that point, but it was nonfiction, right, So I mean, I guess I may not have done that with a story, but because it was nonfiction, of like, well, I pretty much have the idea, but.
You can with a story too. You're just like just plot getting so hackneyed. And I can't stand these characters anymore, and I don't want to pick it up. And you know what, I can live with it. I can google the ending.
Like that's true. You can google the ending. Oh my gosh.
All right. Number three was mine, and I said, do not pick it random leftovers or food just because it's there. I actually don't really do this, but I know a lot of people who do, and then they're frustrated by it, and I'm like, just don't, well.
Why you just like put it away, throw it out?
Yeah, like either sit down or like if it's dessert, like either order it and sit down and like share it and enjoy it. But don't be like, oh, I don't want it, but then like you're like stealing someone out or like I don't know, like I just decide and then enjoy your decision.
Yes or no, I love this one.
Don't say I'll replace it later if something is broken or you're out of it. Put it on a list, or even order it right then and there. Especially the broken things. Like we had a guest a couple of years ago who mentioned, like, throw out your pins that are broken, Like it's not going to suddenly start working.
Like if you write with it, it doesn't work.
Don't put it back in the drawer or you're just going to repeat that frustration the next time you pull it out, so into the trash it goes.
I would have to don't think I add one for my children. That's like, don't put back empty snack containers a yes, or the.
One sip of milk is in the container and it goes back because they didn't want to deal with it.
So like if I leave one sip, it's not my problem.
Empty person say, that's so true. And also on a food note, do not buy perishable food without a basic idea of how you're going to use it.
You don't need.
To detailed day by day plan if that's not how you like to do things. But don't like buy a box of rootabagas unless you have already found a recipe for rudebega soup.
I think with.
That, I mean because one of our first habits was to add produce to breakfast, and so you have to have a plan here in the sense of, like, it can be food you like and you're buying more of it to nudge you to eat more of it, but you have to have a general time of when you're going to eat it. So like, these are the apples
I am going to eat for breakfast. If I am buying ruda begas, then if you went shopping on a Sunday, for instance, maybe you just go ahead and prep them right then, like, go ahead and roast them so you can eat them as a side during the week. But you're not going to suddenly decide in between zoom calls when you're quickly grabbing your lunch on Tuesday and you're working from home, like now's the time for ruda bega.
I'll just see some rudabaga.
I'm like laughing.
Yeah, I don't know why I picked that as an example, but you get my drip, and we all can benefit from wasting less food obviously for many many reasons. All right, so should we head on to our Q and A. That was such a fun episode. I enjoyed that list immensely.
Absolutely. That list are nearly effortless good.
Habits and some bad habits that might be worth kicking this year if they happen to be issues for you.
All right.
So the question this week from a listener says, I heard you guys talk about skiing being a good family vacation, which even I have said, even though I don't ski. She said, none of us know how to ski, So is it hard to learn? And especially is it hard to learn as an adult?
Okay, I learned as a kid, so my answer may not be accurate. I wish I could tell you, Oh, I learned as an adult and I love it. I do know adults who have learned to ski as adults. In fact, I think Christine co from Edit Your Life learned as an adult and she's a pretty advanced skier now who skis all the time, so I know it is something that is possible. I also think you don't have to decide you're going to learn to ski and be like my goal is to go down every triple
Black Diamond and beat everyone down the mountain. You can learn to ski and be a comfortable skier on easy slopes, and that can be it, and you can still enjoy ski vacations. In fact, I will share that I generally only do greens and Blues, maybe the occasional double blue, but really not into trying to hurt myself at this point in my life, and my middle school learned ski technique doesn't really support I think, the hardest and steepest
slopes that are out there. But I still really enjoy a good family ski vacation, and I still can ski with most of my children. Some of them may be leaving me for steeper territory, but that's okay too. It's such a fun family activity. So I suggest you give it a try, and I would invest in lessons or a place with a really well established ski school, because that expertise makes all of the difference.
Yeah, your first day or two on the bake, you're definitely going to want to have lessons, particularly for you if you don't know how to ski, and then their kids.
The upside of I mean, the reason we've.
Suggested the ski vacation for a family vacation is a lot of the major resorts do, in fact have ski schools, so you can put your five year old in ski school from nine to three, and then the adults can go ski different hills or ski with older children than they might if you were trying to keep pace with a five year old. Of course, in my case, the five year old would be a lot better than me because I do not ski.
However, I will say that even if.
You are a person who doesn't ski, if your spouse skis or some of your kids ski, it still might be worth doing as a family vacation because of that. So I can now put the five year old in ski school. The others can all ski with Michael, who's been skiing forever. I can sit in the lodge, I can sit in the apartment whatever. So when we went skiing as a family in March last year, that is what I did, and took myself.
Out to lunch in the nice little lunch.
Places by the ski resorts, and so there's something for everyone. The kids will be doing outdoor activities from like nine to three, and then you can if the rest of the day is on screens or whatever, but you meet up for dinner and it's good.
So that's why we.
Yes, there is usually a lot of very cozy activities to partake in other than skiing at many ski resorts, so that can be a fun alternative.
Alternative for everyone. Yeah, well this has been best of both worlds.
Love.
Oh, we have to do our love of the week. I keep forgetting Okay, Sarah, what's your love of the week.
Well, since we were talking about skiing and being cold and I was doing these notes at work, my heart goes out to my Space heater at work because it's really over air conditioned in my office unfortunately, so even when it is very hot outside, I cannot function without it, and I'm just so so happy that I have that and can use it.
Yeah, gosh, doctor's offices really should not be over air conditioned.
Well, my patient rooms are. Actually my office is very cold, like where I sit and do my notes, and it's I have Yeah, so it's a whole thing.
That's a holy okay, all right, just checking for sheer patient comfort here.
But my love of the week is Substack. It's a great place.
To find newsletters on different topics. And you may be peak substack at this point or whatever, but it's still some cool things to discover, and it has been fun to find sort of bigger name writers out there who are posting things on occasion you get it straight from them, So I kind of enjoy that. Super cool. I love it, super cool. Yeah, Well, this has been best of both worlds. We've been talking nearly effortless good habits. We will be back next week.
With more and making work and life fit together.
Thanks for listening. You can find me Sarah at the shoebox dot com or at the Underscore shoe Box on Instagram, and you can find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
This has been the best of both worlds podcasts.
Please join us next time from more on making work and life work together.