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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 log your pauses when you stop

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Speaker 1: work for a little bit, see what you do and

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Speaker 1: how you feel. You might get some insights that will

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Speaker 1: help you get more done and take better breaks too.

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Speaker 1: People who build by the hour are used to noting

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Speaker 1: when they start and stop working and how long they

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Speaker 1: take for these breaks. When you are logging your work

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Speaker 1: day in six minute increments, you are aware of exactly

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Speaker 1: how long it takes to run a quick errand to

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Speaker 1: grab coffee, to take a call from your spouse to

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Speaker 1: coordinate dinner plans, or how long that quick personal email

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Speaker 1: check actually was. People who build this way are well

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Speaker 1: aware that working from nine to six does not mean

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Speaker 1: working nine hours. Most likely it wasn't even eight hours.

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Speaker 1: It might have been seven if you are really good

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Speaker 1: about focusing and moving like a machine from one thing

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Speaker 1: to the next. But if you are not billing in

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Speaker 1: six minute increments, you might not be aware of just

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Speaker 1: how much time goes to pauses or transitions. Now, let

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Speaker 1: me be clear, the goal is not to get rid

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Speaker 1: of them, because they are inevitable and in many cases desirable.

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Speaker 1: I certainly do not want anyone to feel guilty about

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Speaker 1: taking breaks or about chatting with colleagues. Instead, the goal

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Speaker 1: is just to be aware of where this time goes,

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Speaker 1: so you can ask it is working and what isn't.

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Speaker 1: Just as it is valuable to use a time log

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Speaker 1: to identify what you are mostly doing during each thirty

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Speaker 1: minute block of the day, it is also useful to

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Speaker 1: keep a pause log to track what you are actually

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Speaker 1: doing within those thirty minute blocks. For a few work days,

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Speaker 1: anytime you stop working, jot down the time, then record

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Speaker 1: the time when you start working again. Particularly if you

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Speaker 1: feel like there is more work then there are hours

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Speaker 1: in the work day, a pause log can help you

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Speaker 1: figure out whether there is an opportunity to fit more

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Speaker 1: in during the work day so you don't have to

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Speaker 1: stay late or work on weekends. Maybe you wind up

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Speaker 1: making a lot of calls for appointments and such. Could

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Speaker 1: you batch these They might need to happen during business hours,

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Speaker 1: But would you plan to start work at am some

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Speaker 1: day after consciously using nine to thirty for such things? Notice,

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Speaker 1: whether you're five minute break to check your personal email

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Speaker 1: or social media actually ends up being a twenty minute break,

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Speaker 1: and whether it's really worth the time. If your chats

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Speaker 1: with your work best friend average fifteen minutes per conversation,

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Speaker 1: that's great. But maybe you could coordinate eating your lunches

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Speaker 1: together so you get some extended catch up time and

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Speaker 1: don't have to keep feeling like you need to cut

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Speaker 1: the conversation short because you were in the middle of

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Speaker 1: doing something else. By paying attention to your pauses, you

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Speaker 1: may be able to reclaim some time for making forward

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Speaker 1: progress on your work. You may also get insight into

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Speaker 1: the pauses that energize you for the work ahead, as

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Speaker 1: opposed to those that just aren't yielding many benefits. After

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Speaker 1: a ten minute stretch break or walk around your floor,

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Speaker 1: you may feel ready to tackle an important project. On

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Speaker 1: the other hand, you may notice that the five minute breaks,

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Speaker 1: which are really more like fifteen minute breaks to check

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Speaker 1: social media, are almost never followed by much productive output.

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Speaker 1: Good to know. When you pay attention to how long

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Speaker 1: your breaks take and how your work goes after them,

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Speaker 1: you may be in a position to find some time

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Speaker 1: for getting more work done without staying late. You'll take

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Speaker 1: breaks that energize you, which can make work days feel better,

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Speaker 1: however long they happen to be. If you try logging

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Speaker 1: your pauses, I'd love to hear what you notice. You

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Speaker 1: can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Don't get