1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: Today's tip is that by breaking big goals into doable steps, 4 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: you can do more than you think. War and Peace 5 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: has three hundred sixty one very short chapters. Read one 6 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: a day, and you'll read the book in a year. 7 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: Over the years, one of my most useful insights into 8 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: time has been that we often overestimate what we can 9 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: do in the short run, but underestimate in the long run. 10 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: People create fifty item to do lists for a random 11 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: Tuesday and then feel like miserable failures when they don't 12 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: get through them. And yet seemingly huge goals can involve 13 00:00:56,240 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: doing very little on any given day. An example I 14 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: often use on this podcast is writing a book. An 15 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: eight word manuscript seems very long, but if you plan 16 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: to work two hundred forty days in a year, that's 17 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: about three thirty three words a day for a finished draft. 18 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 1: We are already a hundred fifty words into this episode. 19 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: You could knock this out while your coffee is brewing 20 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: in the morning. Or consider distance running. Being able to 21 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: run twenty plus miles at a time seems daunting to 22 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: someone who's just managed to run her first full mile, 23 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,119 Speaker 1: But if you add a mere half mile each week 24 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: to your longest distance, you'd be marathon ready by the 25 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: end of the year. Many people claim to have no 26 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: time to read, but if you could find fifteen minutes 27 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: every day, maybe scattered in those bits of time while 28 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: waiting for meetings to start or for lunch to heat 29 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: up in the microwave, you could read ninety one hours 30 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: in a year. Since a lot of popular book take 31 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: around four hours to read, this is more than twenty 32 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: books in a year, not bad at all for what 33 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: would otherwise be wasted time. Or you could even aim 34 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: for something more ambitious. Jeremy Anderberg, who runs a popular 35 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: newsletter devoted to reading, is doing a project this year 36 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: called the Big Read, or he leads a group through 37 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: reading War in Peace. This doorstop of a book is huge. 38 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: The copy I'm looking at right now has fourteen hundred 39 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: fifty five pages, but Tolstoy, bless him, elected to write 40 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: this book in three hundred sixty one short chapters. You 41 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: can do the math. Each one is just four pages 42 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: or so that can be read in under ten minutes. 43 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: As long as you keep going, you will be done 44 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: with War in Peace by late December, without even trying 45 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: to find gobs of time in life, we can do 46 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: so much with the approach of one chapter a day. 47 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:05,399 Speaker 1: Each day, we can do very small things, sometimes almost 48 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:11,679 Speaker 1: imperceptible things. We keep our expectations very low. But when 49 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: we meet those expectations again and again, and when we 50 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: just keep going, we can write books, run marathons, and yes, 51 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: conquer War in Peace and still have a lot of 52 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: time left over. So what big goals are you looking 53 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: to accomplish? One chapter at a time, break it down, 54 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: stick with it, and you'll be amazed at what you 55 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: can do in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, 56 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, 57 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me 58 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with 59 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod 60 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D. 61 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast 62 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast 63 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much. 64 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in Touch Before Breakfast is 65 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 66 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 67 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.