Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to recognize that even if you are
Speaker 1: very efficient, there are limits, So make sure you have
Speaker 1: enough time allocated for whatever it is that you need
Speaker 1: to do. As we gain experience in our careers, many
Speaker 1: of us have the happy realization that we no longer
Speaker 1: need to work quite as many hours as we once
Speaker 1: needed to. Even as we're getting more done. We recognize
Speaker 1: problems so they no longer stump us. We know the
Speaker 1: right people to call to get answers Quickly clients come
Speaker 1: to us, which is vastly more efficient for landing work
Speaker 1: than pitching unsolicited stuff. Happily, these efficiency meanes often correspond
Speaker 1: with the phases of our lives, when we need to
Speaker 1: compress work into fewer hours. When I was twenty four,
Speaker 1: well maybe I could throw hours at a problem. As
Speaker 1: a forty two year old mother of five, well not
Speaker 1: so much. However, even the most efficient among us are
Speaker 1: only so efficient. The work still needs to get done.
Speaker 1: It may not take fifty hours a week, but it
Speaker 1: probably doesn't take ten hours either. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure there is an adequate amount of protected, concentrated work
Speaker 1: time to meet your expectations. This is true even if
Speaker 1: you are still working from home because of COVID concerns. Indeed,
Speaker 1: working from home can sometimes make protecting time a bit harder.
Speaker 1: It is especially true that you need to protect enough
Speaker 1: time to work if your kids are home to doing
Speaker 1: virtual or hybrid learning. So if you have been feeling
Speaker 1: like you just can't get ahead, maybe it's time to
Speaker 1: take a hard look at your schedule, track your time.
Speaker 1: What is your longest stretch of uninterrupted work time? How
Speaker 1: many hours can you work before everyone starts needing things.
Speaker 1: Maybe your work is flexible, but just because you can
Speaker 1: do something doesn't mean you have to do something. Maybe
Speaker 1: it is time to rediscover the school bus schedule or
Speaker 1: after school activities that meet at school and hence don't
Speaker 1: require your driving. Maybe it's time to start getting groceries
Speaker 1: delivered so you are not shopping during a morning when
Speaker 1: you could be working. Or maybe you get dinner delivered
Speaker 1: two nights a week so you're not spending potential work
Speaker 1: time cooking. Maybe you need more childcare instead of half
Speaker 1: dealing with the kids and half working at three pm
Speaker 1: every day. Now you work reliably until six pm, two
Speaker 1: nights a week, you focus more fully on your little
Speaker 1: ones after that. I have tracked my time since I
Speaker 1: know that while I worked on average forty hours a
Speaker 1: week at the beginning of that window, I have let
Speaker 1: it drift down, probably to more like thirty five on
Speaker 1: average these days. Happily, I still seem to be getting
Speaker 1: stuff done, but I have realized lately that my work
Speaker 1: hours have been about as optimized as I think they
Speaker 1: can be, and so I have been reworking the schedule
Speaker 1: to preserve more available space. There are limits to anyone's efficiency,
Speaker 1: there are definitely limits to mine, and the work does
Speaker 1: need to get done. So whatever you are trying to do,
Speaker 1: make sure you're giving it enough. Hours too few, and
Speaker 1: it won't happen, not because you lack ambition, but because
Speaker 1: a four hour task can't fit in a two hour slot.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E. The number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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