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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 make sure you don't say yes

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Speaker 1: to things you are not excited about just because you

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Speaker 1: happen to be available. If you are available, you can

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Speaker 1: engineer something exciting into your life. Don't settle for a

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Speaker 1: five or a six when you can make an eight,

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Speaker 1: a nine, or maybe even a ten happen. As I

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Speaker 1: have talked with people about how they spend their time,

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Speaker 1: I have realized something interesting about making plans. For the

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Speaker 1: most part, when people are asked to do something, they

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Speaker 1: look to see if they are free. Then if the

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Speaker 1: thing sounds okay, they will generally say yes. The tendency

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Speaker 1: is to compare the thing on offer to nothing, and

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Speaker 1: in general, something reasonable does sound better than nothing. But

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Speaker 1: here's the thing, nothing isn't the only option out there.

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Speaker 1: With a little initiative, you could engineer something really cool

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Speaker 1: into your life. At the same time, I like to

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Speaker 1: think of all this using a ten point scale. There

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Speaker 1: are the ho hum but okay things, the fives and sixes.

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Speaker 1: There are the things that are pretty fun, the sevens

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Speaker 1: and the eights and then there are the really awesome ones,

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Speaker 1: the nines, and the tens. If you spend a few

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Speaker 1: minutes thinking about it, you can probably figure out what

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Speaker 1: falls in the categories of eights, nines, and tens for you.

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Speaker 1: You know what these things are for your life, So

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Speaker 1: rather than settle for a five or a six, why

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Speaker 1: not try to use that same amount of time to

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Speaker 1: get to at least a nine. For instance, maybe you

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Speaker 1: and your spouse are invited to attend a nonprofit fundraising

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Speaker 1: dinner in a nearby town. You will start to consider

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Speaker 1: making a night of it, staying at the hotel where

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Speaker 1: the event is held. You'll need a babysitter and such,

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Speaker 1: and yes, you know this organization's fundraising events tend to

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Speaker 1: be kind of boring, but you are available, and it's

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Speaker 1: something you could do, and it's a reason to go

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Speaker 1: and get away. And if you are thinking this, stop

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Speaker 1: right there, donate the amount you would have donated to

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Speaker 1: the nonprofit, and then use that special night with your

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Speaker 1: spouse for stuff you would really love, like going to

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Speaker 1: an outdoor concert or eating at a favorite restaurant with

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Speaker 1: just the two of you, or meeting up with friends

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Speaker 1: who live in that town. And then staying over All

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Speaker 1: of these take the same amount of time and similar

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Speaker 1: amounts of cash, but you will really enjoy yourself during them,

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Speaker 1: full stop big when honestly, I wish people would use

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Speaker 1: this mindset more for work too. We have a tendency

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Speaker 1: to say yes to meetings if we are invited, even

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Speaker 1: if we are not sure we'd contribute much, or even

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Speaker 1: that the meetings need to happen. Of course, you might think, well,

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Speaker 1: this is my job, so I do need to do it.

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Speaker 1: But do you Maybe the meeting is only a five

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Speaker 1: or so in terms of your particular expertise, you could

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Speaker 1: use that same hour to work on a project that

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Speaker 1: you'd rate as a nine or a ten. Why not

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Speaker 1: consider doing that instead? Your employer will probably benefit from

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Speaker 1: your excitement. Same if you are looking for your next project,

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Speaker 1: you could say yes to what comes over the transom.

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Speaker 1: You could also put the same effort into calling contacts,

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Speaker 1: working your network and finding something amazing. Ambitious people can

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Speaker 1: almost always engineer some eights into their lives if they try,

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Speaker 1: often some nines too, maybe even tens. So when you

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Speaker 1: are thinking about a five or a six, know that

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Speaker 1: you are not comparing this with nothing. You are comparing

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Speaker 1: it with something that could be utterly amazing. If you

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Speaker 1: will get off your chair to make it happen, you

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Speaker 1: can find something better. You just have to try. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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

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Speaker 1: love 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 the

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

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart

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Speaker 1: media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with

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Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to

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Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit

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

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Yeah