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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 turn down the volume. By consciously

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Speaker 1: substituting less stimulating activities for more stimulating ones, we can

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Speaker 1: feel less anxious and more calm. Today's tip, like some

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Speaker 1: others this week, comes from Chris Bailey's new book, How

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Speaker 1: to Calm Your Mind. In this book, Chris shares strategies

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Speaker 1: for being more productive by reducing anxiety. When your mind

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Speaker 1: is racing, it is hard to accomplish much. But when

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Speaker 1: you aren't flitting from thing to thing, you can relax

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Speaker 1: and get more done. Chris notes that some activities are

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Speaker 1: far more stimulating than others. Our brains get a dopamine

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Speaker 1: hit from things that are novel or changing quickly, or

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Speaker 1: are alarming in some way. Picture the hyped up face

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Speaker 1: of a child interacting with two screens at once, a

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Speaker 1: game on a Kindle and streaming a video on an iPad.

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Speaker 1: We could laugh about that, but honestly, many adults do

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Speaker 1: similar things all the time, theoretically watching a zoom meeting

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Speaker 1: while checking email, or scrolling social media while watching a

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Speaker 1: TV show, or having podcasts on in the background while

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Speaker 1: you're doing something you are trying to focus on. Just

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Speaker 1: as with a kid, it can get you in a

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Speaker 1: hypercharged frame of mind. The antidote is to go on

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Speaker 1: a stimulation fast, as Chris calls it in How to

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Speaker 1: Calm Your Mind. Well, stimulation sounds like something of a

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Speaker 1: good thing, too much of it can make you agitated.

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Speaker 1: You can consciously substitute less stimulating activities for more stimulating activities.

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Speaker 1: So instead of checking news online, read a real newspaper.

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Speaker 1: The news is still there and you will still be informed,

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Speaker 1: but you won't also see a million ads and see

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Speaker 1: things trying to make you click this way and that.

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Speaker 1: Instead of checking email constantly through the day, designate a

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Speaker 1: few times when you will deal with it. Four or

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Speaker 1: five checkens per day is still quite frequent. You will

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Speaker 1: see anything within an hour or two, which allows for

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Speaker 1: a rapid response, but you will lower the volume on

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Speaker 1: how much stimulation you are getting. If you are looking

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Speaker 1: to interact with people, talk with a friend or two

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Speaker 1: instead of diving into an online chat. Now there might

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Speaker 1: be places for both in life, but I would recommend

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Speaker 1: starting with the real life friends and then giving social

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Speaker 1: media the time left over. A real conversation with real

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Speaker 1: people is nice, but is inherently less hyped up than

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Speaker 1: one yanking you from place to place Online. Even shopping

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Speaker 1: comes in more stimulating and less stimulating versions. Chris noted

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Speaker 1: that online windows shopping was constantly making him feel more stimulated,

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Speaker 1: so he cut back on that. Now he only goes

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Speaker 1: online to shop if he knows exactly what he is

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Speaker 1: buying ahead of time. I'd add that many people make

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Speaker 1: themselves anxious by trying to speed things up. There is

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Speaker 1: nothing wrong with being expeditious, but if you don't have

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Speaker 1: time to listen to a podcast at the speed the

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Speaker 1: podcasters spoke, maybe you don't have time for that podcast.

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Speaker 1: Yanking it up to two x speed is just going

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Speaker 1: to make you feel more hyped up, so turn down

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Speaker 1: the volume on over stimulating things. At first, you might

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Speaker 1: feel a little bored, like shouldn't I be multitasking? Shouldn't

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Speaker 1: I get more done? Reading a newspaper is obviously doing

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Speaker 1: one thing, whereas when we are online reading the news,

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Speaker 1: we might also be checking email at the same time,

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Speaker 1: other messages, and maybe half working on a project, which

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Speaker 1: all feels better, but you are probably not doing much

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Speaker 1: of consequence, read the paper, then go on to the

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Speaker 1: other things. Do it all in sequence. As Chris notes,

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Speaker 1: and how to calm your mind, you will feel less

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Speaker 1: anxious and far more calm. That is worth playing with

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Speaker 1: a little boredom to achieve. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's and making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b the number four, then Breakfast

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Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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

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Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart

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Speaker 1: favorite shows. Four