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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 not quit something by accident. If

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Speaker 1: you've decided to stop working toward a goal, that is fine,

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Speaker 1: but be honest about it and see what you can

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Speaker 1: learn from the experience. Many people make New Year's resolutions.

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Speaker 1: We start out the year with vim and vigor, and

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Speaker 1: then at some point many people stop pursuing their goals

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Speaker 1: or keeping up with their new habits. What often happens

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Speaker 1: is that something changes the new routine. Someone gets sick,

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Speaker 1: work gets busy, or maybe new COVID restrictions make an

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Speaker 1: original resolution like going to the gym harder to pursue

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Speaker 1: in that form. In any case, people don't do something

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Speaker 1: for a few days and then it gets harder to

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Speaker 1: start up again. There was no actual decision to quit.

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Speaker 1: It just happens. But it doesn't have to just happen.

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Speaker 1: I am not saying all goals need to continue indefinitely.

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Speaker 1: I have stopped doing plenty of things in my life,

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Speaker 1: but I think it's good to acknowledge what is happening

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Speaker 1: and why it is happening, so we can learn important

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Speaker 1: lessons that will help us with future goals. For instance,

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Speaker 1: maybe you thought you would wake up at six am

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Speaker 1: to exercise every morning, and then you don't. Why Well,

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Speaker 1: I can think of several reasons. First, does every morning

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Speaker 1: really means seven mornings a week? Even pretty committed exercisers

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Speaker 1: seldom do that. Maybe a more reasonable goal would have

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Speaker 1: been three week day mornings at six am and one

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Speaker 1: weekend day with no particular time goal on that one.

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Speaker 1: That would have allowed for the occasional oversleeping or grace

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Speaker 1: for when it was a later night. Or maybe you

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Speaker 1: set a goal to lose ten pounds. I am not

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Speaker 1: a big fan of that type of goal, but plenty

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Speaker 1: of people do set these type of goals, and two

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Speaker 1: weeks into the year, maybe the scale hasn't budged, so

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Speaker 1: you feel discouraged and just stop trying. But maybe it

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Speaker 1: would have been better to focus on process goals forget

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Speaker 1: the scale. Instead, you choose to limit beverages with calories,

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Speaker 1: eat vegetables with lunch and dinner, in aim for ten

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Speaker 1: thousand steps a day on at least five days of

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Speaker 1: the week. Now there is a reasonable chance that those

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Speaker 1: steps will lead to losing ten pounds. Over time, but

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Speaker 1: even if they don't, you'll be a lot healthier. Recognizing

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Speaker 1: why the goal felt discouraging will lead to smarter goals

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Speaker 1: in the future. Or maybe you realize that you just

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Speaker 1: don't feel motivated. You plan to read more and you're

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Speaker 1: not reading more. There are lots of questions to ask

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Speaker 1: before you just feel bad every time you look at

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Speaker 1: your short list of books read. Maybe reading isn't a

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Speaker 1: priority for you right now, and that's fine. Things that

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Speaker 1: other people value don't need to be things that you value.

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Speaker 1: Maybe it's a better goal for a later time in

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Speaker 1: life when you have fewer other commitments. It's good to

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Speaker 1: be reasonable. Or maybe you just need something different to

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Speaker 1: motivate you. A competition with your brother over who could

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Speaker 1: read more this year might be just the thing, or

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Speaker 1: joining a book club or some other external motivator. We

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Speaker 1: all respond to different incentives. In any case, When you

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Speaker 1: find yourself rolling toward quitting, pause and ask yourself a

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Speaker 1: few things. First, do you truly want to quit? If so, fine,

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Speaker 1: If not, maybe you can recast the goal. Second, if

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Speaker 1: you are going to quit, what can you learn from

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Speaker 1: the experience that will help you set future goals? Knowing

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Speaker 1: ourselves is one of the best ways to succeed at

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Speaker 1: what we intend to do. If you can figure out

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Speaker 1: more about yourself, you will be well positioned for the future.

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

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our talk. 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 E 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 iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. H m hm