WEBVTT - Enjoy your meeting rebates

0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:09.360
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:16.520
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.720
<v Speaker 1>tip is to enjoy and make the most of any

0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.440
<v Speaker 1>time you get back when a meeting is canceled or

0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:30.360
<v Speaker 1>ends early. As we often discuss on this podcast, knowledge

0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.760
<v Speaker 1>workers spend a lot of time in meetings, but sometimes

0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:39.280
<v Speaker 1>a meeting doesn't happen. People are gone, or the task

0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.960
<v Speaker 1>is no longer a priority, or sometimes it ends early.

0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.599
<v Speaker 1>I wish everyone was so clear on the agenda that

0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.919
<v Speaker 1>every minute of every meeting was well planned for, but

0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:56.840
<v Speaker 1>sometimes that doesn't happen, or sometimes it becomes clear that

0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.280
<v Speaker 1>the answer is a quick yes or a quick no,

0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.160
<v Speaker 1>and there is no need to use the time that

0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.560
<v Speaker 1>was there for the arguing. In any case, when this happens,

0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:10.320
<v Speaker 1>you get some minutes back. Free time has fallen from

0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:15.959
<v Speaker 1>the sky. I like to call these meeting rebates. You've

0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.640
<v Speaker 1>budgeted the time, but now you don't have to use

0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.760
<v Speaker 1>all of that time. Sweet, So what to do with

0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.880
<v Speaker 1>those meeting rebates? I know that the most common thing

0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:31.200
<v Speaker 1>people do is dive into their inboxes. But if you

0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.440
<v Speaker 1>do get free minutes as a meeting rebate, you might

0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:37.840
<v Speaker 1>consider being a little more intentional with the time. For instance,

0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.319
<v Speaker 1>if a meeting ends early but you really enjoy one

0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.959
<v Speaker 1>or more of the people participating in it, consider converting

0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.400
<v Speaker 1>the remaining time into something or social. Go grab coffee,

0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.920
<v Speaker 1>or just keep chatting about life and how everything is going.

0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.760
<v Speaker 1>Having close friends at work is strongly associated with feeling

0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.080
<v Speaker 1>more engaged and happy, so this is not a waste

0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:06.040
<v Speaker 1>of time. If a meeting ends early or cancels, you

0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.280
<v Speaker 1>can also fit in a little movement. Take a quick

0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.120
<v Speaker 1>walk around your office or in the neighborhood, walk up

0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.040
<v Speaker 1>and down the stairs, briskly stretch, or do a few

0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.280
<v Speaker 1>yoga poses, or just step outside and take a few

0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:22.280
<v Speaker 1>breaths of fresh air. Five or ten minutes in activities

0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.600
<v Speaker 1>like these can be refreshing and invigorating, and if an

0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.320
<v Speaker 1>entire meeting has been canceled, you might wind up getting

0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:34.040
<v Speaker 1>a serious amount of aerobic activity in during the workday.

0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:39.560
<v Speaker 1>Imagine that another option for time not needed for meetings

0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.680
<v Speaker 1>is to do some of your favorite work or speculative work.

0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.760
<v Speaker 1>What do you keep telling yourself you'd like to do

0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.760
<v Speaker 1>if only you had the time, Well, now you have

0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.280
<v Speaker 1>the time. This may be especially appealing if you have

0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:57.640
<v Speaker 1>fifteen minutes or more that become available unexpectedly. Maybe this

0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.880
<v Speaker 1>is when you develop a new auto response email for

0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.640
<v Speaker 1>people who sign up for your organization's newsletter, or maybe

0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.400
<v Speaker 1>you make notes about an employee resource group for working

0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.480
<v Speaker 1>parents that you want to pitch to your HR department.

0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:17.120
<v Speaker 1>One caveat. While I love meeting rebates, sometimes this is

0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.720
<v Speaker 1>not a true rebate. If the meeting is going to

0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.800
<v Speaker 1>be rescheduled, then you might be best off making progress

0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.080
<v Speaker 1>on tasks you know you'll need to do in the future,

0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.600
<v Speaker 1>because some of your future time is going to be

0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:35.240
<v Speaker 1>reallocated to the postponed meeting, so you need to budget

0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.280
<v Speaker 1>for that. But even though we spend a lot of

0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.160
<v Speaker 1>time at work, we don't spend an infinite amount of

0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:46.040
<v Speaker 1>time there. If time can be repurposed for something more

0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:53.240
<v Speaker 1>enjoyable or meaningful, work in general will feel better. Maybe

0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.600
<v Speaker 1>not quite as good as a day with no meetings,

0:03:56.000 --> 0:04:01.800
<v Speaker 1>but better nonetheless. In the mean time, time this is Laura.

0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:07.160
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:16.720
<v Speaker 1>our time. Thanks for listening to before breakfast. If you've

0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.920
<v Speaker 1>got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:30.039
<v Speaker 1>Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:34.840
<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.680
<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:39.520
<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.