1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning. 2 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: tip is to aim for a focused thirty minutes rather 4 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: than lament the various distractions of life. See if you 5 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: can sustain work on something for just half an hour, 6 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 1: you might be surprised at how doable this is and 7 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 1: at all you can get done. So there's a lot 8 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: being written and discussed about how distracted everyone is these days. 9 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: Some distractions come from external sources kids, house issues if 10 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: you're working from home, colleagues and managers who need their 11 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: instant messages answered instantly. Some distractions happen because we're bored 12 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: and texts. We pick up our phones to answer that 13 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,320 Speaker 1: text and then look at three other things and then 14 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: decide we need a snack and all. This means that 15 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: focus time is hard to come by, and I totally 16 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: get that. The trouble is that often when people lament 17 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: a lack of focused time or time for deep work, 18 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: as cal Newport puts it, or anything else, they feel 19 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 1: like they need to find incredibly long stretches of time, 20 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: many hours, maybe a full day, maybe more. And that 21 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: would be great. I'm a big fan of taking retreats 22 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: when possible, but if you are looking for hours and hours, 23 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: that can wind up feeling impossible if you have got 24 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: three meetings coming up in the afternoon and a phone 25 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: call that you know needs to happen at some point. 26 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: So don't make the perfect the enemy of the good. 27 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: Don't go looking for multiple hours, maybe don't even go 28 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: looking for a single hour. Instead, just see if you 29 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: can choose to focus on something for thirty minutes straight. 30 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: Pick a project, pick a time that seems more or 31 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: less open, challenge yourself to close or silence everything else. 32 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: Set a timer. See what happens. It is quite possible 33 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: that your boss will email you something urgent, but you 34 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,639 Speaker 1: will see it in thirty minutes. It is possible you 35 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: will get interrupted by someone barging into your office or cubicle, 36 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: but you can also put headphones on as a subtle 37 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: leave me alone kind of signal. If you are working 38 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: from home, it is possible a delivery person will ring 39 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: the doorbell, or that contractor who is supposed to show 40 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: up sometime this week finally will But it is also 41 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: possible that none of that will happen if you wait 42 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: until you know you will have the perfect time, you 43 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: might never try. And if you wait until you know 44 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: you will have hours to work, well, you might never 45 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:18,360 Speaker 1: have hours. So be realistic. Aim for thirty focused minutes. 46 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: If you start itching to check email or something else, 47 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: just stop yourself, redirect yourself back to the task at hand. 48 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: If you find you need something else, just make a 49 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: note of it to find it later. Try not to 50 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: let yourself be drawn away. And then when your timer 51 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: goes off, evaluate did you make any progress? Were you 52 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: able to sustain your focus for thirty minutes? If not, 53 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: why not? If you did, how did it feel. I 54 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: am all for baby steps. Maybe focusing for thirty minutes 55 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: will help you figure out how to car about hours 56 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: for deeper work, and that would be great. But even 57 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: if you can only sustain work for thirty minutes, that's 58 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: actually okay. Something is almost always better than nothing, So 59 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: aim for something, and something has a good chance of 60 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: happening in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, 61 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks 62 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: for listening to before breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, 63 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura 64 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:54,160 Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. 65 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, 66 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.