Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that when you have a little spot
Speaker 1: of time open up, you don't need to spend all
Speaker 1: of it checking email. Take a minute to look out
Speaker 1: the window first, and you just might start feeling a
Speaker 1: little differently about life. I am writing this episode on
Speaker 1: a lovely fall day, when the colors out my office
Speaker 1: window are brilliant and rich. There's a bright red maple
Speaker 1: staring back at me, and the little yellow oak leaves
Speaker 1: scattered on the bushes look like celebratory confetti. With scenery
Speaker 1: like this, I do find myself looking up more than usual.
Speaker 1: I know in a few weeks it will all be
Speaker 1: gray and brown for winter, but even so, on any day,
Speaker 1: looking at the sky and the trees can provide a
Speaker 1: little mental lift, a soothing sense that whatever problems I'm
Speaker 1: dealing with our transient against the slowly changing seasons. I
Speaker 1: also realized that I don't avail myself of this opportunity
Speaker 1: to look out on a calming scene nearly as much
Speaker 1: as I could. When a spot of time appears in
Speaker 1: my schedule, I do what I suspect. Many people do
Speaker 1: check my inbox. Sometimes there's something I need to deal
Speaker 1: with there, but often it's something that could have waited
Speaker 1: for one minute. Well, I looked out at the loveliness
Speaker 1: for sixty seconds. If you'd like more tranquility in your life,
Speaker 1: it might be worth trying to look out the window first.
Speaker 1: In my new book, Tranquility by Tuesday, one of the
Speaker 1: time management rules I explore is to do effortful fun
Speaker 1: before effortless fun. When you've got the potential for leisure time,
Speaker 1: do a few minutes of reading or hobbies are connecting
Speaker 1: with friends before switching over to screen time. When people
Speaker 1: made this one little habit switch, they were far more
Speaker 1: likely to agree with the statement yesterday, I didn't waste
Speaker 1: time on things that weren't important to me. We don't
Speaker 1: necessarily think of leisure during the work day, though I
Speaker 1: am pretty sure that traffic on many websites is higher
Speaker 1: during the work day than afterwards. But in many cases,
Speaker 1: quick email checks are the same sort of thing as
Speaker 1: checking social media, if maybe even more insidious, because they
Speaker 1: look like work. We want to see what's in there,
Speaker 1: even if all we wind up doing with those moments
Speaker 1: of time is deleting email newsletters we can't remember subscribing to.
Speaker 1: It's often just the sort of effortless activity that doesn't
Speaker 1: do much beyond provide a quick hit of feeling like
Speaker 1: something has been done. So here's an idea. Before you
Speaker 1: get to all that deleting, take just one minute to
Speaker 1: look out the window first. Yes, staring at the clouds
Speaker 1: can be a form of effortful fun in our distracted world.
Speaker 1: If you've got a window in your office, wonderful get
Speaker 1: to know the world outside it. If you work at
Speaker 1: a home office, you can curate this view, making it
Speaker 1: a little more pleasant and intriguing over time. But even
Speaker 1: if you are in an office park, there is probably
Speaker 1: something of interest, a patch of sky, a tree, that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. If you are working in a window
Speaker 1: this cubicle, just get up and walk to a window.
Speaker 1: Most buildings are required to have them somewhere not too
Speaker 1: far away from you. It will be good to stretch
Speaker 1: your legs in addition to taking in the outside world. Again,
Speaker 1: this doesn't have to take long, sixty seconds would be fine.
Speaker 1: Then go delete email as much as you want. The
Speaker 1: point is simply to change up the automatic flow of
Speaker 1: activities and to build little spots for renewal into your day.
Speaker 1: I just looked up to watch a handful of bright
Speaker 1: yellow leaves float to the ground. The email deletion can
Speaker 1: wait a few seconds. The falling leaves are a lot
Speaker 1: more tranquil in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. M Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.