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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to make lunch count. If you get a

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Speaker 1: lunch break, a little mindfulness can make this time a

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Speaker 1: source of personal renewal beyond the obvious need to eat something.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip comes from Cheryl Johnson's new book Box Lunch Lifestyle.

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Speaker 1: Cheryl notes that a lunch break can be a real

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Speaker 1: treat in the middle of the day. While it is

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Speaker 1: easy to just wind up waiting in line at the

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Speaker 1: cafeteria or a nearby fast food restaurant, or working straight

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Speaker 1: through lunch at home, there are plenty more opportunities if

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Speaker 1: you think about it. Here's how it works. If you

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Speaker 1: get thirty minutes for lunch, you don't want to waste

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Speaker 1: those minutes procuring it. So, unless you are eating socially

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Speaker 1: with someone, bring a healthy lunch from home. We're talking

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Speaker 1: something with vegetables. Get yourself a nice napkin and real silverware,

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Speaker 1: and enjoy this meal for fifteen minutes. Then use the

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Speaker 1: other half of your lunch break to pursue a personal project.

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Speaker 1: You could read a good book, you could work on

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Speaker 1: learning a language. You could make a sketch or take

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Speaker 1: some photos. You could practice a musical instrument if you

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Speaker 1: are working from home. The idea is that this is

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Speaker 1: your time and you are using it to invest in yourself. Now,

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Speaker 1: of course, a thirty minute lunch break isn't that long,

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Speaker 1: and fifteen minutes for a personal project is even less,

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Speaker 1: but it is also not nothing. If you practice the

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Speaker 1: piano for fifteen minutes a day for five days a week,

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Speaker 1: that is seventy five minutes certainly enough time to improve

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Speaker 1: on a tricky piece. You will speak and read a

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Speaker 1: foreign language better if you practice it for fifteen minutes

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Speaker 1: a day. If you read about fifty pages an hour

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Speaker 1: and start reading an additional seventy five minutes a week,

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Speaker 1: you will probably start making it through another book or

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Speaker 1: sometimes even two per month. This sense of progress is powerful.

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Speaker 1: Most likely you will start looking for other times in

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Speaker 1: your life to start pursuing your interests. You start with lunch,

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Speaker 1: and next thing you know, you are finding two hours

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Speaker 1: on the weekend and signing up for music or art lessons.

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Speaker 1: But if nothing else, this action can remind you that

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Speaker 1: you have some control over your time, As Cheryl says

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Speaker 1: in her book On the very first day of your

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Speaker 1: box lunch lifestyle, you will remember what it means to

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Speaker 1: feel like you and how to think for yourself instead

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Speaker 1: of going along with what the world says you need

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Speaker 1: or want or should want. It can be easy to

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Speaker 1: feel like life is just happening to us, we have

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Speaker 1: to do X, y or Z. When you exert control

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Speaker 1: over your thirty minute lunch break. On the other hand,

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Speaker 1: this can start to change the narrative. You do have

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Speaker 1: some autonomous time, maybe not as much as you want,

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Speaker 1: but you are a person who draws for fifteen minutes

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Speaker 1: a day, or plays a musical instrument or reads great literature.

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Speaker 1: You are not totally at the mercy of everyone else's requirements. Now,

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Speaker 1: I know this doesn't work for everyone. Not everyone gets

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Speaker 1: a lunch break, even if you theoretically do get one.

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Speaker 1: The world can conspire to make you blow through this

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Speaker 1: time off. But if you have a good lunch break planned,

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Speaker 1: then you might start pushing back on these incursions. An

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Speaker 1: emergency is one thing, but a lot of other things

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Speaker 1: can wait, and when you take your thirty minutes, you

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Speaker 1: will return to work far more refreshed. This can make

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Speaker 1: the afternoon feel far more doable, So why not make

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Speaker 1: lunch count? I will admit that this tip has been

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Speaker 1: harder for me to follow sometimes. Theoretically, I work for

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Speaker 1: myself and can take whatever lunch break I want, but

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Speaker 1: there is always something else to do, and I tend

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Speaker 1: to eat at my desk, but I could read, or

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Speaker 1: play the piano, or go for a walk. So I

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Speaker 1: am committing to making lunch count at least a few

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Speaker 1: days a week. I hope you will join me. Let

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Speaker 1: me know if you do. You can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. 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 time.

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Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can

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Speaker 2: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just

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Speaker 2: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before

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Speaker 2: Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 2: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 2: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 2: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I

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Speaker 2: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 2: favorite shows. Mhmm.