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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My 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 seek out effortful fun that can

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Speaker 1: keep your mind active. Scroll less, puzzle more. You'll feel

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Speaker 1: far more satisfied with your leisure time. This week, we've

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Speaker 1: been talking about ways to take care of our brains.

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Speaker 1: If we want to take our days from great to awesome,

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Speaker 1: being on top of our mental games can help a lot.

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Speaker 1: Our brains are the most important productivity tools we have

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Speaker 1: now and in the future too, so we want to

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Speaker 1: keep these tools as sharp as possible. That brings me

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Speaker 1: to today's tip. How we spend our scarce leisure time.

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Speaker 1: We are all busy these days between work and family,

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Speaker 1: and during this time of year, all the holiday madness,

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Speaker 1: we can start to feel like we have no free

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Speaker 1: time at all. However, as anyone who has tracked their

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Speaker 1: time knows, this isn't a accurate story. Everybody has some

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Speaker 1: free time, if not as much as we want. The

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Speaker 1: problem is that much of this time occurs when we

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Speaker 1: have limited energy, or it is unexpected or short in duration.

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Speaker 1: Our phones solve these constraints so well. While you are

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Speaker 1: waiting for a train to come, you can read headlines

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Speaker 1: or check in on what your former neighbor posted on Facebook.

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Speaker 1: If the train comes after two minutes, great, If it

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Speaker 1: comes after eight minutes, also fine. You could do the

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Speaker 1: same thing in either stretch of time, and when it

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Speaker 1: gets interrupted it you just proceed to the next thing.

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Speaker 1: It is also very easy to keep scrolling or refreshing,

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Speaker 1: and so if we are tired at night, we often

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Speaker 1: pick up the phones or turn on the TV unthinkingly.

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Speaker 1: But none of this tends to engage our brains very much.

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Speaker 1: And while we need some downtime, there is a space

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Speaker 1: for leisure that makes us feel smarter rather than brainless.

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Speaker 1: So why not try scrolling less and puzzling a little

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Speaker 1: bit more. Puzzles give our brains the chance to practice

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Speaker 1: problem solving. They help us think in new ways and

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Speaker 1: thus help us forge new mental connections. I'm talking any

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Speaker 1: sort of puzzle. If you've got leisure time and can

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Speaker 1: be off screens, try doing a jigsaw puzzle if you

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Speaker 1: want an easy sense of accomplishment. A puzzle can be

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Speaker 1: done in a night, or you could do a newspaper

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Speaker 1: crossword puzzle, or get a book of number puzzles, But

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Speaker 1: even if you are online, you could try various puzzles.

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Speaker 1: There are online jigsaw puzzles and online crossword puzzles. It

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Speaker 1: is as easy to open a puzzle app as to

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Speaker 1: open grabby headlines that are designed to make you feel

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Speaker 1: fearful and unhappy. You don't have to do the puzzles forever,

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Speaker 1: but you might try flipping the automatic habit of doing

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Speaker 1: something effortless. Tell yourself you are just going to do

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Speaker 1: something effortful for three minutes or so. Then you can

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Speaker 1: spend as much time on Twitter as you'd like. My

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Speaker 1: guess is much of the time you will stick with

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Speaker 1: the puzzles. They can be really fun. But even if not,

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Speaker 1: you will spend a few more minutes each day doing

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Speaker 1: something that helps your brain stay engaged. That's not a

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Speaker 1: bad thing. Our brains are like anything else. They stay

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Speaker 1: in better shape when we train them. Plus, much online

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Speaker 1: scrolling is so brainless we hardly even notice we are

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Speaker 1: doing it, so we stick with the story that we

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Speaker 1: have no free time, even if we spend hours perusing headlines.

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Speaker 1: It's hard to do a crossword puzzle, though, and not

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Speaker 1: notice that you are doing it, so that makes leisure

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Speaker 1: time expand in the mental accounting, even if it is

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Speaker 1: the exact same amount of time scroll less, puzzle more,

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Speaker 1: you'll feel more brainy and feel like you're spending your

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

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. M

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Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can

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

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

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Speaker 1: Breakfast pod that's b E 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 I heart Radio, visit the i heart

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Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.