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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I 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 learn one new technology skill per month.

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Speaker 1: There is a lot we can learn, but one skill

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Speaker 1: a month is sustainable, and it's also enough to make

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Speaker 1: a difference. So some folks have or want to learn

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Speaker 1: all the new technology as soon as it comes out,

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Speaker 1: then there are the rest of us. If you are

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Speaker 1: not especially interested in technology, and particularly if you have

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Speaker 1: a lot of autonomy over how you work, it is

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Speaker 1: easy to just keep doing what you are doing. You

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily learn anything new, and usually that can be fine,

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Speaker 1: but we might be missing out on some really useful stuff.

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Speaker 1: For instance, I am guessing many people listening to this

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Speaker 1: podcast view video conferencing programs like Zoom as easy and

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Speaker 1: ubiquitous now, But Zoom Pro existed before March. It was

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Speaker 1: pretty cool then too. Zoom gave you the ability to

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Speaker 1: have a meeting where you saw someone else's face and

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Speaker 1: their facial expressions without having to travel. A lot of

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Speaker 1: people could have saved themselves a lot of time in

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Speaker 1: transit if they'd become more familiar with video conferencing software

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Speaker 1: before it became a necessity. Of course, this can go

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Speaker 1: the other way too. You could spend your life learning

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Speaker 1: new tech skills, but then realizing that you don't need

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Speaker 1: all of them in your daily life for something else

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Speaker 1: might work even better. We can't spend all day trying

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Speaker 1: to optimize our efficiency. We have to do our work too,

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Speaker 1: so instead, try this goal, learn one new tech skill

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Speaker 1: per month. It can be simple like blurring your background

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Speaker 1: on a video call for circumstances where that might be helpful,

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Speaker 1: or as complex as editing videos. It might be a

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Speaker 1: timesaver in your email client, or learning more of the

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Speaker 1: functions that spreadsheets are capable of doing. Maybe it's using

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Speaker 1: an AI transcription service or using a time tracker to

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Speaker 1: directly build ours to clients. I don't know what is

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Speaker 1: useful in your life, but if your goal is just

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Speaker 1: one tech skill a month, you'll get a few benefits. First,

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Speaker 1: that is a doable goal, so you will do it. Second,

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Speaker 1: choosing one per month means you'll likely put some thought

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Speaker 1: into what might be most useful. You won't do something

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Speaker 1: just to do something. You might ask colleagues for ideas,

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Speaker 1: or read articles, or think about things that are pain

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Speaker 1: points in your workflow, you'll identify a skill that would

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Speaker 1: be helpful, learn it and implement it, and then you'll

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Speaker 1: have time to get used to it before you try

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Speaker 1: the next one. Because it is always easy to revert

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Speaker 1: to our old ways. But when you are learning one

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Speaker 1: skill a month, you have time to practice. You can

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Speaker 1: also really see which upgrades are useful. If you've only

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Speaker 1: added one new tech practice and nothing changes in your life,

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Speaker 1: you can see that it wasn't really life changing. On

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Speaker 1: the other hand, maybe things will be a lot more

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Speaker 1: smooth now, you know, and that wasn't too hard at all.

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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 time. 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 E the number four then Breakfast p o D.

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

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com That Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

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