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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to get to three. I maintain that

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Speaker 1: anything you do three times a week is a habit.

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Speaker 1: So if you want to have something be a regular

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Speaker 1: part of your life, just see if you can squeeze

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Speaker 1: it in three times a week. You might be surprised

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Speaker 1: at what you can do. Today's tip, like a few others, recently,

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Speaker 1: comes from my new book Tranquility by Tuesday, Nine Ways

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Speaker 1: to calm the chaos and make time for what matters.

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Speaker 1: And this book I explore what happened when people learned

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Speaker 1: nine of my favorite time management rule over nine weeks.

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Speaker 1: One Tranquility by Tuesday rule Rule number four, to be exact,

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Speaker 1: was that three times a week is a habit. We

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Speaker 1: can argue over how regularly anything needs to happen to

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Speaker 1: be part of your identity, but three times a week

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Speaker 1: is fairly regular. It isn't daily, but most things don't

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Speaker 1: need to be. Indeed, I found that many people who

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Speaker 1: claim to have daily habits often don't. They do things

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Speaker 1: Monday through Friday, which is five times a week, not daily.

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Speaker 1: If the person skips fridays or holidays or vacations, we

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Speaker 1: wind up a lot closer to three than to seven.

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Speaker 1: In any case, aiming for three times a week can

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Speaker 1: be liberating. We might not be able to find space

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Speaker 1: for things daily, and particularly at the same time every

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Speaker 1: single day, but we don't need to. Three spots over

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Speaker 1: the course of the one hundred sixty eight hours in

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Speaker 1: a week can be enough. So for instance, let's say

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Speaker 1: you used to play an instrument and you would like

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Speaker 1: to get back to it. You could lament that you

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Speaker 1: can't play the piano for an hour every day like

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Speaker 1: you did during your most serious studies, but why is

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Speaker 1: that the accepted standard. Could you find twenty minutes three

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Speaker 1: times a week to play a low cost electronic keyboard?

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Speaker 1: Perhaps you could. That is just one total hour out

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Speaker 1: of one hundred sixty eight. It seems doable. Or maybe

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Speaker 1: you'd like to do some creative writing. You don't have

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Speaker 1: hours to hold yourself up in a garret, but could

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Speaker 1: you write for twenty to thirty minutes three times a week.

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Speaker 1: It's just sixty to ninety minutes total. Skip a show

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Speaker 1: or two and you're there. Or maybe you fantasize about

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Speaker 1: regular family meals. You want to be the kind of

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Speaker 1: family that eats together, but between work and kids schedules,

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Speaker 1: there is no six pm pot roast being unveiled on

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Speaker 1: its platter Monday through Friday. So what maybe you all

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Speaker 1: eat pancakes together on Saturday morning and Sunday dinner together

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Speaker 1: before the week begins. Just find one other time that works,

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Speaker 1: maybe a late Tuesday dinner if that's a day when

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Speaker 1: the activities are over early, and just like that, you

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Speaker 1: our family that eats together, just get to three. I know.

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Speaker 1: I have found that this mindset is incredibly helpful as

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Speaker 1: I try to make space for things in my life.

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Speaker 1: Once upon a time I ran every day. That is

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Speaker 1: no longer happening in this season of my life. But

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Speaker 1: I can definitely run three times a week, and that

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Speaker 1: means I am still a runner. Our family meals happen

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Speaker 1: as they can, but they do generally happen three times

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Speaker 1: a week. We are a family that eats together. I

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Speaker 1: practiced the piano three times a week. I blog at

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Speaker 1: least three times per week. None of this needs to

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Speaker 1: be daily to count, but because it is regular, it

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Speaker 1: can be a part of who I am. What would

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Speaker 1: you like to have be a regular part of your life.

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Speaker 1: You might not need to wait for some future time

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Speaker 1: when life will calm down. Life isn't going to calm

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Speaker 1: down next week. It might not calm down next year.

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Speaker 1: But if you survey your life, you might already be

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Speaker 1: doing what you desire once a week or so. Just

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Speaker 1: get to three. That is doable, and when you do

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Speaker 1: it your life we'll feel better. In the meantime. This

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Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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Speaker 1: most of our times. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com.

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Speaker 1: That before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart

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Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite shows. Yea