Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to turn down the volume. By consciously substituting
Speaker 1: less stimulating activities for more stimulating ones, we can feel
Speaker 1: less anxious and more calm. Today's tip, like some others
Speaker 1: this week, comes from Chris Bailey's new book, How to
Speaker 1: Calm Your Mind. In this book, Chris shares strategies for
Speaker 1: being more productive by reducing anxiety.
Speaker 2: When your mind is racing, it is hard to accomplish much.
Speaker 2: But when you aren't flitting from thing to thing, you
Speaker 2: can relax and get more done. Notes that some activities
Speaker 2: are far more stimulating than others. Our brains get a
Speaker 2: dopamine hit from things that are novel or changing quickly,
Speaker 2: or are alarming in some way. Picture the hyped up
Speaker 2: face of a child interacting with two screens at once,
Speaker 2: a game on a Kindle and streaming a video on
Speaker 2: an iPad. We could laugh about that, but honestly, many
Speaker 2: adults do similar things all the time, theoretically watching a
Speaker 2: zoom meeting while checking email, or scrolling social media while
Speaker 2: watching a TV show, or having podcasts on in the
Speaker 2: background while you're doing something you are trying to focus on.
Speaker 2: Just as with a kid, it can get you in
Speaker 2: a hyper charged frame of mind. The antidote is to
Speaker 2: go on a stimulation fast, as Chris calls it in
Speaker 2: How to Calm your Mind. While stimulation sounds like something
Speaker 2: of a good thing, too much of it can make
Speaker 2: you agitated. You can consciously substitute less stimulating activities for
Speaker 2: more stimulating activities. So instead of checking news online, read
Speaker 2: a real newspaper. The news is still there and you
Speaker 2: will still be informed, but you won't also see a
Speaker 2: million ads and see things trying to make you click
Speaker 2: this way and that. Instead of checking email constantly through
Speaker 2: the day, designate a few times when you will deal
Speaker 2: with it. Four or five check ins per day is
Speaker 2: still quite frequent. You will see anything within an hour
Speaker 2: or two, which allows for a rapid response, but you
Speaker 2: will lower the volume on how much stimulation you are getting.
Speaker 2: If you are looking to interact with people, talk with
Speaker 2: a friend or two instead of diving into an online chat.
Speaker 2: Now there might be places for both.
Speaker 1: In life, but I would recommend starting with the real
Speaker 1: life friends and then giving social media the time left over.
Speaker 1: A real conversation with real people.
Speaker 3: Is nice, but is inherently less hyped up than one
Speaker 3: yanking you from place to place online. Even shopping comes
Speaker 3: in more stimulating and less stimulating versions. Chris noted that
Speaker 3: online windows shopping was constantly making him feel more stimulated,
Speaker 3: so he cut back on that. Now he only goes
Speaker 3: online to shop if he knows exactly what he is
Speaker 3: buying ahead of time. I'd add that many people make
Speaker 3: themselves anxious by trying to speed things up. There is
Speaker 3: nothing wrong with being expeditious, but if you don't have
Speaker 3: time to listen to a podcast at the speed the
Speaker 3: podcaster spoke, maybe you don't have time for that podcast.
Speaker 3: Yanking it up to two x speed is just going
Speaker 3: to make you feel more hyped up, so turn down
Speaker 3: the volume on over stimulating things. At first, you might
Speaker 3: feel a little bored, like shouldn't I be multitasking? Shouldn't
Speaker 3: I get more done? Reading a newspaper is obviously doing
Speaker 3: one thing, whereas when we are online reading the news,
Speaker 3: we might also be checking email at the same time
Speaker 3: and other messages, and maybe half working on a project,
Speaker 3: which all feels better, but you are probably not doing
Speaker 3: much of consequence. Read the paper, then go on to
Speaker 3: the other things. Do it all in sequence. As Chris
Speaker 3: notes in How to Calm Your Mind, you will feel
Speaker 3: less anxious and far more calm. That is worth playing
Speaker 3: with a little boredom to achieve. In the meantime, this
Speaker 3: is Laura.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 2: our time.
Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 2: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook.
Speaker 1: And Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four then breakfast pod. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast.
Speaker 2: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 2: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I
Speaker 2: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio.
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