Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning.
Speaker 3: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 3: tip is about one upside of daily habits that are
Speaker 3: truly daily. You know that even if you do nothing
Speaker 3: else on any particular day, you will have done your
Speaker 3: daily habits. If you choose these habits well, that can
Speaker 3: make for a reasonably productive day. So, like everyone, I
Speaker 3: have days that feel frustrating. Sometimes this is because I
Speaker 3: lack energy to do anything of consequence. Sometimes it's because
Speaker 3: of other circumstances. There was one particular day recently that
Speaker 3: prompted this episode when I had a number of important
Speaker 3: conversations scheduled and all of them got canceled or didn't
Speaker 3: feature everyone. They should have to make a decision because
Speaker 3: of various illnesses and such things going around. Like I said, frustrating,
Speaker 3: But I do have a few things I do every
Speaker 3: single day as steps toward long term goals. I read
Speaker 3: a little bit in my year long reading project this year.
Speaker 2: It's all the works of Jane Austen, and I write
Speaker 2: a little bit in my year long writing project this year.
Speaker 2: I'm writing two lines of a sonnet each day, so
Speaker 2: I will have fifty two sonnets by New Year's So
Speaker 2: even on a day when nothing else has happened, I
Speaker 2: know I will have read ten pages of Jane Austen
Speaker 2: and written one seventh of a sonnet. It's not much,
Speaker 2: but it isn't nothing. I have made some progress on
Speaker 2: long term things. The day is a total loss, and
Speaker 2: much of life is mental anyway, whether you are productive
Speaker 2: or not is mostly a matter of whether you feel
Speaker 2: productive or not. In the grand scheme of things, it
Speaker 2: probably doesn't matter what any of us do. But when
Speaker 2: you feel a day hasn't been a total loss, you
Speaker 2: might be more inclined to make a little more progress
Speaker 2: on lots of things, or at least be in a
Speaker 2: more cheerful mood. So with that in mind, perhaps you'd
Speaker 2: like to start some sort of daily habit that could
Speaker 2: give you a baseline sense of accomplishment. For something to
Speaker 2: become a successful daily habit, it needs to be pretty doable.
Speaker 2: It can't take much time, ideally just a few minutes.
Speaker 2: It has to be something you find reasonably enjoyable, and
Speaker 2: it can't be logistically complex, or you won't do it
Speaker 2: while you're traveling or on weekends or any other time.
Speaker 2: When you might not be around your normal tools and
Speaker 2: environment or have your usual schedule. But if you write
Speaker 2: a thank you note to someone every single day, you
Speaker 2: know that even on a day that feels terrible, at
Speaker 2: least you wrote a thank you note. If you listen
Speaker 2: to ten minutes of box music every day, then even
Speaker 2: on a terrible day, you will have listened to ten
Speaker 2: minutes of great music. And if you have listened to
Speaker 2: something amazing, how terrible can the day really be? So
Speaker 2: figure out what you could do as an everyday habit,
Speaker 2: and you will be able to find a bright side
Speaker 2: of even a dismal day. Now, obviously, if the day
Speaker 2: is truly horrendous in certain ways, you might not be
Speaker 2: able to do your daily habit, But for most run
Speaker 2: of the mill bad days, you will, and then maybe
Speaker 2: the day won't seems so bad. In the meantime, This
Speaker 2: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 2: most of our text.
Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
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Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters, thanks so much. Should I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
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Speaker 1: M HM.