WEBVTT - Aim for a focused half an hour

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to aim for a focused thirty minutes rather

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<v Speaker 1>than lament the various distractions of life. See if you

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<v Speaker 1>can sustain work on something for just half an hour,

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<v Speaker 1>you might be surprised at how doable this is and

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<v Speaker 1>at all you can get done. So there's a lot

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<v Speaker 1>being written and discussed about how distracted everyone is these days.

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<v Speaker 1>Some distractions come from external sources kids, house issues if

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<v Speaker 1>you're working from home, colleagues and managers who need their

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<v Speaker 1>instant messages answered instantly. Some distractions happen because we're bored

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<v Speaker 1>and texts. We pick up our phones to answer that

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<v Speaker 1>text and then look at three other things and then

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<v Speaker 1>decide we need a snack and all. This means that

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<v Speaker 1>focus time is hard to come by, and I totally

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<v Speaker 1>get that. The trouble is that often when people lament

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<v Speaker 1>a lack of focused time or time for deep work,

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<v Speaker 1>as cal Newport puts it, or anything else, they feel

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<v Speaker 1>like they need to find incredibly long stretches of time,

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<v Speaker 1>many hours, maybe a full day, maybe more. And that

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<v Speaker 1>would be great. I'm a big fan of taking retreats

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<v Speaker 1>when possible, but if you are looking for hours and hours,

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<v Speaker 1>that can wind up feeling impossible if you have got

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<v Speaker 1>three meetings coming up in the afternoon and a phone

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<v Speaker 1>call that you know needs to happen at some point.

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<v Speaker 1>So don't make the perfect the enemy of the good.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't go looking for multiple hours, maybe don't even go

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<v Speaker 1>looking for a single hour. Instead, just see if you

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<v Speaker 1>can choose to focus on something for thirty minutes straight.

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<v Speaker 1>Pick a project, pick a time that seems more or

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<v Speaker 1>less open, challenge yourself to close or silence everything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Set a timer. See what happens. It is quite possible

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<v Speaker 1>that your boss will email you something urgent, but you

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<v Speaker 1>will see it in thirty minutes. It is possible you

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<v Speaker 1>will get interrupted by someone barging into your office or cubicle,

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<v Speaker 1>but you can also put headphones on as a subtle

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<v Speaker 1>leave me alone kind of signal. If you are working

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<v Speaker 1>from home, it is possible a delivery person will ring

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<v Speaker 1>the doorbell, or that contractor who is supposed to show

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<v Speaker 1>up sometime this week finally will But it is also

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<v Speaker 1>possible that none of that will happen if you wait

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<v Speaker 1>until you know you will have the perfect time, you

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<v Speaker 1>might never try. And if you wait until you know

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<v Speaker 1>you will have hours to work, well, you might never

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<v Speaker 1>have hours. So be realistic. Aim for thirty focused minutes.

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<v Speaker 1>If you start itching to check email or something else,

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<v Speaker 1>just stop yourself, redirect yourself back to the task at hand.

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<v Speaker 1>If you find you need something else, just make a

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<v Speaker 1>note of it to find it later. Try not to

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<v Speaker 1>let yourself be drawn away. And then when your timer

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<v Speaker 1>goes off, evaluate did you make any progress? Were you

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<v Speaker 1>able to sustain your focus for thirty minutes? If not,

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<v Speaker 1>why not? If you did, how did it feel. I

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<v Speaker 1>am all for baby steps. Maybe focusing for thirty minutes

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<v Speaker 1>will help you figure out how to car about hours

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<v Speaker 1>for deeper work, and that would be great. But even

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<v Speaker 1>if you can only sustain work for thirty minutes, that's

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<v Speaker 1>actually okay. Something is almost always better than nothing, So

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<v Speaker 1>aim for something, and something has a good chance of

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<v Speaker 1>happening in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for listening to before breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

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<v Speaker 1>vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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<v Speaker 1>For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

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