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 about fitting big fun into small moments.
Speaker 1: Long time listeners know that I like to talk about
Speaker 1: effortless fun and effort full fun. The effortless variety is
Speaker 1: straightforward watching TV, scrolling through social media. Effort Ful fun,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, is leisure that takes a bit
Speaker 1: more effort, like reading or creative hobbies or chatting with
Speaker 1: a friend. In general, the latter feels more rewarding, but
Speaker 1: it tends to get crowded out by the well effortlessness
Speaker 1: of effortless fun, so we spend our time on Facebook
Speaker 1: like friends posts rather than talking with them. Now, I
Speaker 1: know that there are reasons why we resort to effortless
Speaker 1: fun instead of the effortful variety. Sometimes we lack the
Speaker 1: energy to do anything else. But an equally important reason
Speaker 1: is that we often feel like we don't have enough
Speaker 1: time to get into our favorite effortful fun. Maybe we
Speaker 1: only have five minutes or so. No one is going
Speaker 1: to pull out the sewing machine in that small chunk
Speaker 1: of time, or make pastries or call the friend who
Speaker 1: likes to talk for an hour while you can read
Speaker 1: in bits of time. It can be frustrating to have
Speaker 1: to put down a juicy novel after five minutes, which
Speaker 1: means it can feel easier not to bother. So that
Speaker 1: brings us to today's tip. See if you can find
Speaker 1: ways to do small versions of your favorite fun, what
Speaker 1: aspect of your favorite effortful fun might fit in a
Speaker 1: few minutes. If you look at this question with a
Speaker 1: problem solving mindset, I think you will come up with
Speaker 1: a lot of ideas. For instance, if you love to read,
Speaker 1: but don't want to pull your nose out of a
Speaker 1: book after five minutes, how about reading some poetry instead.
Speaker 1: There are lots of poetry websites and apps, or you
Speaker 1: can get an e book of poetry and open that up.
Speaker 1: Reading a little Mary Oliver will feel far better than
Speaker 1: spending three minutes in the school pickup line reading about
Speaker 1: how air popped popcorn is a great low calorie snack.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you love to write, but you are not
Speaker 1: exactly going to shape that gripping scene in your novel
Speaker 1: in five minutes between virtual meetings. You can, however, write
Speaker 1: in a one sentence journal, or write one words in
Speaker 1: a free writing file, just a little stream of consciousness
Speaker 1: that keeps the writing muscles sharp. You can get a
Speaker 1: book of writing prompts and respond to these, and even
Speaker 1: use the notes app of your phone to type your thoughts.
Speaker 1: If you don't have the tools or capacity to write
Speaker 1: with pen and paper, even artistic hobbies might fit in
Speaker 1: bits of time. Take a few photos, sketch something, plan
Speaker 1: out your next scrapbook page, even if you don't have
Speaker 1: your materials handy, think through your next floral arrangement. I'd
Speaker 1: also note that your phone allows for a lot of
Speaker 1: purposeful information finding, even if that is not what we
Speaker 1: often use it for. If you love to bake, use
Speaker 1: those bits of time to study new recipes, watch a
Speaker 1: video of a technique you are trying to master. If
Speaker 1: you play the piano, listen to a recording of another
Speaker 1: artist performing a piece you are learning. If you listen
Speaker 1: to a handful of these through the day, you will
Speaker 1: have all sorts of interpretations going through your brain by
Speaker 1: the time you sit down at night to practice. You
Speaker 1: can window shop through new embroidery patterns, or garden designs,
Speaker 1: or high end yarns. In any case, you don't have
Speaker 1: to resign yourself to aimless scrolling. Just because you only
Speaker 1: have a few minutes for fun, effortful fun can still
Speaker 1: fit in little bits of time if you think about
Speaker 1: what might work, have a plan, and you will elevate
Speaker 1: these little moments and that can make time feel a
Speaker 1: lot more rewarding. In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. 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: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.