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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 about what not to track while measuring

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Speaker 1: various dimensions of your life can be useful. It is

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Speaker 1: good to know yourself if tracking some aspect of your

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Speaker 1: life is going to make you feel guilty or trigger

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Speaker 1: unhealthy behaviors, then you might be better off setting broad

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Speaker 1: safeguards and then not worrying about the particulars. Long Time

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast listeners know that I have been tracking my

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Speaker 1: time for a long time. It will be eight years

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Speaker 1: this spring. Yes, I know how I have spent every

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Speaker 1: half hour for the past eight years of my life.

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Speaker 1: Some people hearing at might think that is a wee

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Speaker 1: bit obsessive, but there are certainly folks who have tracked

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Speaker 1: their spending pretty religiously for years. There are folks who

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Speaker 1: have tracked all their workouts, and people who are trying

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Speaker 1: to eat more healthfully who have tracked their food intake

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Speaker 1: for a long time too. I do track my workouts,

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Speaker 1: but I don't track those other categories. Sometimes people are

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Speaker 1: surprised to hear that I don't track spending closely, because

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Speaker 1: money and time are closely related, but I have certain

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Speaker 1: obsessive frugal tendencies that I know will kick in. If

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Speaker 1: I start monitoring and recording every detail of household spending,

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Speaker 1: I will start feeling bad that we didn't buy the

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Speaker 1: generic laundry detergent, and I will be tracking the price

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Speaker 1: of eggs at each of several different grocery stores to

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Speaker 1: be sure we are getting the best deal. All of

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Speaker 1: this will take a lot of time. It would be

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Speaker 1: better spent growing my business or hanging out with my kids.

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Speaker 1: I am not saying that there isn't merit to tracking spending.

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Speaker 1: If one is in crisis or trying to get out

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Speaker 1: of debt, it's critical. But instead I have chosen to

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Speaker 1: put broad safeguards in place. We spend lower percentages of

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Speaker 1: our income on recurring expenses such as housing than we

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Speaker 1: theoretically could. That frees up space to be a bit

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Speaker 1: less careful with other things. We put the maximum allowable

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Speaker 1: amount into our retirement accounts, and after that, as long

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Speaker 1: as the money coming in is more than the money

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Speaker 1: going out, then I am better off not devoting headspace

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Speaker 1: to reducing my grocery bill by ten dollars a week,

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Speaker 1: which I know I would totally spend time doing I

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Speaker 1: have heard similar things about time tracking from various listeners.

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Speaker 1: One person mentioned that she had been tracking screen time,

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Speaker 1: but seeing the number just made her feel guilty. As

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Speaker 1: long as she was doing well at work and enjoying

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Speaker 1: her family life and spending time with friends and on

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Speaker 1: various community activities, then it was probably not worth feeling

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Speaker 1: guilty about. She could watch ninety minutes of TV a

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Speaker 1: day or sixty minutes of TV a day, and it

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Speaker 1: really didn't matter which she wasn't watching twelve hours a day.

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Speaker 1: The safeguards were in place, so it was all good.

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Speaker 1: I know I probably could eat a more healthy diet,

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Speaker 1: but I also don't want to devote mental energy to

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Speaker 1: tracking every calorie. I prefer to set broad guidelines like

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Speaker 1: keeping the junk I find tempting out of the house,

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Speaker 1: limiting alcohol, and eating veggies at least twice a day.

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Speaker 1: As I am not looking to start a new career

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Speaker 1: as a swimsuit model, that is probably fine. Tracking various

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Speaker 1: things in life can be incredibly useful. I like to

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Speaker 1: see where my time goes, and most importantly, I don't

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Speaker 1: really judge myself harshly on it. I find it interesting,

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Speaker 1: not an indictment. I heartily encourage people to try time

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Speaker 1: tracking for at least a week. But past that, if

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Speaker 1: you find tracking time, or calories, or spending or anything

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Speaker 1: else makes you feel bad about yourself or encourages you

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Speaker 1: to pace around the house for thirty minutes when you'd

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Speaker 1: like to go to bed, just to get your step

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Speaker 1: counter up to the right number, well maybe it is

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Speaker 1: worth rethinking this. You don't have to track everything, only

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Speaker 1: track what serves you, not what doesn't. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: this is law. Uh. Thanks for listening, and here's to

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Speaker 1: making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love

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Speaker 1: to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E

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Speaker 1: the number four then Breakfast p o D. You can

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Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at

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Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, 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 I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Okay, can I get