Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to prep for your weekend downtime. Even if
Speaker 1: you have a full weekend planned, you will likely have
Speaker 1: some downtime. Having low key but fun activities ready means
Speaker 1: you will be more likely to enjoy this time rather
Speaker 1: than frittering it away on things you don't really care about.
Speaker 1: So I track my time, and I have for years,
Speaker 1: including my weekend time. I have learned over the years
Speaker 1: that even if there is a lot going on during
Speaker 1: any given weekend, I will no doubt have some downtime.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's an hour in between kid activities, or it's
Speaker 1: time at night before bed. If I don't have anything
Speaker 1: I am particularly interested to do with this time, I
Speaker 1: will probably spend it looking at Instagram. But if I
Speaker 1: have a good book, I will read that book. If
Speaker 1: I have a puzzle going, I will take a few
Speaker 1: minutes in between activities to put some pieces together in
Speaker 1: that puzzle. I enjoy books and puzzles a lot more
Speaker 1: than scrolling around on social media. So if I want
Speaker 1: to enjoy my weekend downtime, best to have a book
Speaker 1: and a puzzle going. Now that does take a bit
Speaker 1: of thought and preparation, but not a ton. I can
Speaker 1: stop by the library during the week, it's pretty easy
Speaker 1: to do on my way to pick up my five
Speaker 1: year old from his church choir practice on Wednesdays. Or
Speaker 1: I can download a book to my Kindle app and
Speaker 1: get it instantly. As for puzzles, those I can order
Speaker 1: on Amazon or from White Mountain Puzzles. It tends to
Speaker 1: be my favorite retailer for these things. If I see
Speaker 1: that I am highly likely to finish my current puzzle
Speaker 1: in the next few days, then I should get another
Speaker 1: one going in my puzzle queue. Yes, I have a
Speaker 1: puzzleque but that is part of taking downtime seriously. I
Speaker 1: think that many people assume they have no time, so
Speaker 1: they don't think about what they'd like to do with
Speaker 1: their downtime. The trouble with that is that basically everybody
Speaker 1: has some downtime, even if it isn't a huge amount.
Speaker 1: When we don't think about what we'd like to do
Speaker 1: with our downtime, we do whatever is easiest, which these
Speaker 1: days tends to mean pursuing our electronic hobbies of scrolling
Speaker 1: through headlines and social media comments. Then we tend not
Speaker 1: to particularly enjoy this time or even notice that it
Speaker 1: is happening, which contributes to the story of having no time.
Speaker 1: If you've got a good book going though, well, you
Speaker 1: might find ninety minutes or maybe even more on a
Speaker 1: weekend to read it. And how cool would that be.
Speaker 1: So before any given weekend, think about what you would
Speaker 1: like to do with any available downtime. Do you have
Speaker 1: a good magazine you would like to read? Could you
Speaker 1: get a new supply of books before the weekend. If
Speaker 1: you have a hobby, do you have those supplies ready
Speaker 1: to go? Prep for weekend downtime, and you will spend
Speaker 1: your weekend downtime in ways you find enjoyable. You'll have
Speaker 1: a lot more fun in your life. It really is
Speaker 1: as simple as that. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.