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: This week we've been discussing strategies from Gretchen Ruben's new
Speaker 1: book Outer Order in her Calm. Today's tip is to
Speaker 1: observe what Gretchen calls a power hour. She explains, most
Speaker 1: of us have a long list of unpleasant chores that
Speaker 1: aren't urgent, so we just keep postponing them. Over time,
Speaker 1: this procrastination drains us. So to tackle this problem, Gretchen
Speaker 1: suggests scheduling a power hour. Make a list of all
Speaker 1: the tasks you'd like to accomplish, and once a week,
Speaker 1: for just one hour, steadily work on these chores, she says.
Speaker 1: Gretchen reports that recent items on my power our list
Speaker 1: included getting pants tailored, choosing a guide to hikes in
Speaker 1: the Hudson Valley, and looking for a book that I'd
Speaker 1: maddeningly misplaced somewhere in my apartment. Here's why I, Laura,
Speaker 1: love the idea of a nagging tasks power our. First,
Speaker 1: to intentionally allocate these tasks to a particular hour, you
Speaker 1: have to know what the tasks are, and that means
Speaker 1: you keep a list. Writing down a list of nagging
Speaker 1: tasks gets them out of your head and somewhere you
Speaker 1: can actually do something about them. Otherwise, you'll be trying
Speaker 1: to concentrate on a client's problem and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the thought that wow, I'm pretty sure I never sent
Speaker 1: in those reimbursement forms will pop into your brain. Second.
Speaker 1: Assigning these tasks a specific hour keeps them from cluttering
Speaker 1: your entire schedule. Theoretically, you could take a few minutes
Speaker 1: to fill out and send in those forms at any point,
Speaker 1: but if it's always a possibility, you'll always feel somewhat
Speaker 1: guilty that you're not doing it. Now. You might think
Speaker 1: you shouldn't carve out twenty minutes over your lunch break
Speaker 1: to read a novel because you have so much to do,
Speaker 1: and that would be a shame. So think about what
Speaker 1: tasks can go on your nagging task list, then think
Speaker 1: about what hour might work to tackle them. I like
Speaker 1: the idea of Friday right after lunch. Friday's tend to
Speaker 1: be a low opportunity cost time. After lunch, your energy
Speaker 1: might be flagging, so it's hard to do more important tasks,
Speaker 1: but it's still business hours. So if you need to
Speaker 1: call your banks customer service line or visit the post office,
Speaker 1: you can still do it. An hour isn't much, but
Speaker 1: a few tasks a week can make life feel doable, or,
Speaker 1: as Gretchen says, little by little, hour by hour, we
Speaker 1: can get a lot accomplished in the meantime. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: beef for Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: That before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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