Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: This week's episodes are all about habits. Today's tip is
Speaker 1: really a few tips, a few tiny tweaks to your
Speaker 1: life that can have a big impact over time. One
Speaker 1: of my biggest discoveries in life is that small things
Speaker 1: done repeatedly truly do add up. We've talked about the
Speaker 1: quote before that dripping water hollows the stone. A little
Speaker 1: water here, a little water there, and eventually you've got
Speaker 1: the Grand Canyon. In his book Atomic Habits, writer's James
Speaker 1: Clear talks about the compounding results of just one percent improvements.
Speaker 1: A one percent improvement seems tiny, almost imperceptible at first,
Speaker 1: but for example, a baseball player who figures out how
Speaker 1: to get one person better here and there will eventually
Speaker 1: sore over someone who, through the natural ravages of time,
Speaker 1: hold steady or gets one percent worse. So what are
Speaker 1: some tiny one percent improvements you can make? Here's one pace.
Speaker 1: Will you brush and floss your teeth if you take
Speaker 1: one extra steps in the morning and one extra steps
Speaker 1: at night, That is extra steps a week. If you
Speaker 1: brush daily, and I hope you do. That's about seventy
Speaker 1: three steps a year, which is thirty extra miles. You
Speaker 1: could add the same amount by going to a bathroom
Speaker 1: that's slightly further from your office twice a day, or
Speaker 1: parking a mirror one hundred steps further from the door
Speaker 1: of anywhere you happen to visit. Or here's another one. Recently,
Speaker 1: social media was all a buzz with news about the
Speaker 1: app that shows what you or anyone else would look
Speaker 1: like in a few decades. Some aging is inevitable, but
Speaker 1: a reasonable amount is sun damage. We know to put
Speaker 1: sunscreen on for the beach, but if you put a
Speaker 1: bottle by the door and put it on your face
Speaker 1: and hands every morning, this twenty second ritual could take
Speaker 1: a decade off your appearance over time. Something else to
Speaker 1: help with health eating more vegetables. Most people don't get enough,
Speaker 1: so challenge yourself to always have vegetables with lunch. If
Speaker 1: you're already packing a produced filled lunch or buying salads
Speaker 1: at restaurants, that's awesome, but even delis or convenience stores
Speaker 1: often have packets of baby carrots or carrots and celery
Speaker 1: package with hummus. Or you could buy baby carrots and
Speaker 1: bulk at your grocery store, keep baggies of them in
Speaker 1: your office fridge, and carry one with you as you
Speaker 1: head out to that fried chicken joint. You're not depriving yourself.
Speaker 1: You're just adding one tiny good for you thing. Tweaks
Speaker 1: aren't just about health. They matter for your career too.
Speaker 1: We talked in a previous episode about sending one note
Speaker 1: to reach out to a new person daily. You can
Speaker 1: renew times for established ties, but taking five minutes to
Speaker 1: do this on every work day means you've sent about
Speaker 1: two fifty missives out into the universe in a year.
Speaker 1: I get excited just thinking of all the amazing things
Speaker 1: that could come from that. Another great habit, before you
Speaker 1: leave the office for the day, list your top three
Speaker 1: priorities for tomorrow. If your office lost power by noon,
Speaker 1: what would you need to have done? Now put this
Speaker 1: list somewhere you'll see it. You've set yourself up for
Speaker 1: a day that's definitely going to be at least one
Speaker 1: person better than it would have been. And just one
Speaker 1: final tweak, commit to reading ten minutes a day, or
Speaker 1: if you're already reading a lot, commit to reading ten
Speaker 1: minutes more. Reading is one of the best ways to
Speaker 1: grow your mind and expand your world. College and graduate
Speaker 1: school are expensive, but so much of the world's knowledge
Speaker 1: is in books, and you can get those for free
Speaker 1: from the library. Ten minutes isn't much at all. All
Speaker 1: your coffees bring in the morning, praps a little before bed.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really matter when. But ten minutes a day
Speaker 1: is five hours a month or sixty hours a year.
Speaker 1: That's enough to read twelve to fifteen normal books or
Speaker 1: war in peace twice. What little habits have made a
Speaker 1: big difference in your life. I'd love your suggestions. You
Speaker 1: can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart
Speaker 1: media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H