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: Today's tip is for being a smarter, happier consumer of
Speaker 1: social media, h G, t V, blogs and the like.
Speaker 1: See what others do as inspiration, a kick in the
Speaker 1: pants to see what you can do. Don't be just
Speaker 1: a spectator. So I don't watch a lot of TV,
Speaker 1: but sometimes when I'm in a hotel, I'll turn on
Speaker 1: a decorating show and soon one is blending into the other,
Speaker 1: and I wind up watching hours of house hunting and
Speaker 1: makeover triumph, watching feel satisfying beautiful spaces, likable people, and
Speaker 1: a tidy resolution to every problem them in minutes or so.
Speaker 1: Yes please. Instagram, likewise, makes it easy to spend entire
Speaker 1: evenings pouring over pitty pictures. That's what it's designed for.
Speaker 1: And even though most Americans cook a lot less than
Speaker 1: their grandmothers did, cookbook sales are booming and there are
Speaker 1: scores of food blogs and cooking shows. It can be
Speaker 1: fun to see people who are on top of their games.
Speaker 1: But don't let this peek into others lives be an
Speaker 1: escape from your own. Use their creations to motivate yourself
Speaker 1: to try cool things. So rather than just looking at
Speaker 1: photos of amazing food and magazines, try making that dish
Speaker 1: that caught your eye. Instead of just watching other people
Speaker 1: renovate their homes, take on a project in yours. When
Speaker 1: your friend posts pictures of a charming vacation house she
Speaker 1: stayed in, look into whether you could go there for
Speaker 1: fall break. That could be you sitting by the fire pit,
Speaker 1: taking in the breathtaking sunset through the mountains. Now to
Speaker 1: be sure your efforts might not go perfectly. I recently
Speaker 1: made a dish that I saw in Cooking Light, and
Speaker 1: let's just say that their food stylists can make black
Speaker 1: lintels and cooked orange carrots look a lot more crisp
Speaker 1: than the mushy colors I wound up with. But so what.
Speaker 1: I posted a photo of my dish next to the
Speaker 1: cooking white one on Instagram so people could laugh. It's
Speaker 1: still tasted pretty good. It helps to remember that most
Speaker 1: projects are pretty low stakes. If you refinish an old
Speaker 1: table from your attic and it still looks like well,
Speaker 1: an old table from the attic, no big deal. If
Speaker 1: your chocolate mouse has the consistency of pudding. Enjoy your
Speaker 1: pudding and try making moose another day. And when you
Speaker 1: succeed savorite you could even tell your friends about your
Speaker 1: triumphs and inspired them to get involved too. So the
Speaker 1: next time you see someone else's awesome accomplishment on Instagram
Speaker 1: or social media, draw inspiration and motivation to try something
Speaker 1: similar yourself. Resolve to get into the game rather than
Speaker 1: staying on the sidelines. You'll have a lot more fun
Speaker 1: and feel proud of what you do. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b the number
Speaker 1: four then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.