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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 time for you a habit. Even

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Speaker 1: if you are not entirely sure what hobbies or passions

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Speaker 1: you'd like to pursue, carving out time for yourself can

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Speaker 1: help you start to figure this out. In my most

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Speaker 1: recent book, Tranquility by Tuesday, I talk about my nine

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Speaker 1: favorite time management rules that can help people calm the

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Speaker 1: chaos and make time for what matters. One of those rules,

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Speaker 1: rule number seven, to be exact, is to take one

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Speaker 1: night for you. I challenge busy people to spend a

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Speaker 1: few hours a week on something that is not work

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Speaker 1: and is not caring for family. It is just for you.

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Speaker 1: Doing so can make life feel more sustainable and joyful. Ideally,

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Speaker 1: this night for you involves a commitment to something you

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Speaker 1: find energizing. I sing an a choir on Thursday nights.

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Speaker 1: Some people have a regular tennis game with a partner,

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Speaker 1: or play on a softball team, or attend a painting class,

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Speaker 1: or volunteer at a food bank every Wednesday after work.

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Speaker 1: These are all great ideas, but sometimes people tell me

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Speaker 1: that they are not sure what they would do with

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Speaker 1: their night off. They don't have a particular passion or

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Speaker 1: hobby that seems to lend itself to this, or if

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Speaker 1: they do, there might not be great opportunities for that

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Speaker 1: thing in their community. I do think that in this

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Speaker 1: wide world, and especially we consider all the virtual options

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Speaker 1: out there, people can come up with something. But even

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Speaker 1: if you are not sure what you would do, I'd

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Speaker 1: strongly suggest committing to take a few hours a week

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Speaker 1: to explore your interests in the hopes of figuring it out.

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Speaker 1: Time for you can be a habit even if you're

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Speaker 1: not totally sure what you will do with it. If

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Speaker 1: you've got young kids, there are obvious logistical challenges with this,

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Speaker 1: so if you've got a co parent, one great idea

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Speaker 1: is just to trade off. Each of you gets one

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Speaker 1: night off each week and you cover for each other.

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Speaker 1: On your night off. Just go do something. Visit a friend,

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Speaker 1: go to a bookstore, sit in a coffee shop, take

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Speaker 1: a walk, go to the gym, maybe go to a

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Speaker 1: movie or anything along those lines. It doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: be perfect, it just has to be reasonably enjoyable. The

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Speaker 1: next week, during your time off, do the same thing.

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Speaker 1: Or do something else see what you enjoy. If you

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Speaker 1: keep finding yourself doing something similar, that might be a

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Speaker 1: clue to your interests. If you always wind up in

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Speaker 1: your town's museum or galleries, you might enjoy an art class.

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Speaker 1: If you find you really enjoy a particular class at

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Speaker 1: your gym, you can start thinking of yourself as a

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Speaker 1: regular and get to know the other attendees. Or you

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Speaker 1: can use this time to sit in a coffee shop

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Speaker 1: and think about what you enjoyed as a kid and

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Speaker 1: brainstorm ways to do this now. If you don't have

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Speaker 1: someone who can easily cover for your kids, this is

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Speaker 1: obviously more complicated. I do think that having one night

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Speaker 1: off a week might be a reasonable use of babysitting

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Speaker 1: funds over the long run. Getting one night off each

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Speaker 1: week can make you a more present and how person.

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Speaker 1: But if that is not going to fly, you might

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Speaker 1: also be able to build up a community of other

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Speaker 1: folks in similar circumstances who can cover for each other.

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Speaker 1: A friend gets Tuesday night off and you take her kids,

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Speaker 1: and she takes your kids on Thursday nights. But by

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Speaker 1: figuring out a way to build this time into your life,

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Speaker 1: you will start thinking about what you'd like to do

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Speaker 1: with it. You will start approaching your leisure time with

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Speaker 1: more intention. You will start thinking about possibilities rather than

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Speaker 1: assuming that there is no time. You do have time

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Speaker 1: that one night a week you take for you. After

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Speaker 1: a few weeks of trying different things, you might have

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Speaker 1: more insight into what you enjoy. Or you can start

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Speaker 1: following the clues. You find your aerobics class at the

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Speaker 1: GEM reasonably interesting, but a fellow attendee mentions that she

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Speaker 1: start at a tap dancing class at a nearby studio

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Speaker 1: and loves it. You go try that out and just

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Speaker 1: like that, you find a new passion that will have

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Speaker 1: you looking forward to Tuesday nights. Make time for you

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Speaker 1: a habit, and you will start to figure out what

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Speaker 1: you like to do. It really is as simple as that.

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

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our times. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's b the number four then Breakfast po D. You

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Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcasts

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Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters, thanks so much, should I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.