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 the fifth in a five part series
Speaker 1: on how to take control of your time in the
Speaker 1: new year. This week, I've been talking about five strategies
Speaker 1: that I know will help you feel less busy and
Speaker 1: get more done because they've definitely helped me. The first
Speaker 1: strategy was to track your time. I hope you're five
Speaker 1: days into that now, but if not, you can start today,
Speaker 1: start on any day. It's always helpful to know where
Speaker 1: the time really goes. The second strategy was to build
Speaker 1: in an extra hour for something you really want to do.
Speaker 1: The third strategy was to treat your priorities as real emergencies.
Speaker 1: The fourth strategy was to try doing things at unorthodox times.
Speaker 1: By being flexible, we can make more space in already
Speaker 1: full lives. And now the final strategy, the fifth one,
Speaker 1: is to create more white space. I know that in
Speaker 1: our society it's almost a badge of honor to talk
Speaker 1: about how busy we are. How is life busy? How
Speaker 1: is your weekend busy? We talk about how much we
Speaker 1: have going on, all the projects at work, The projects
Speaker 1: at home. The implication of all this is that we
Speaker 1: are very, very important, as evidenced by this high demand
Speaker 1: for our time. But in my years of studying how
Speaker 1: people spend their time, I've found something interesting. Many of
Speaker 1: the most important people I've studied have a surprising amount
Speaker 1: of white space in their lives. They do not schedule
Speaker 1: every minute. They consciously use the power they have over
Speaker 1: their time to try to be less busy, which is
Speaker 1: definitely something I've been working on learning to do, and
Speaker 1: there are a lot of practical reasons for building in
Speaker 1: open space. Time tracking has shown me that everything takes
Speaker 1: longer than I think it will. Somebody can ask for
Speaker 1: thirty minutes at ten am, but for some reason, that
Speaker 1: call will start late and something will come up, and
Speaker 1: if I schedule something else at ten thirty, I'll really
Speaker 1: need to force the issue. Or if I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get out the door with my kids, I look at
Speaker 1: the clock as I'm calling for everyone to get shoes on.
Speaker 1: We climb in the car, and I look at the
Speaker 1: clock again and shockingly, some non zero amount of time
Speaker 1: has passed in the interim. Transitions aren't instantaneous, ever, yet
Speaker 1: we often assume they are very few people enjoy being
Speaker 1: late and rushing. Creating white space in a schedule can
Speaker 1: make life feel more calm right there. I also think
Speaker 1: it makes us more productive because white space allows us
Speaker 1: to seize opportunity. If the person on my ten o'clock
Speaker 1: call has some wonderful ideas he wants to discuss, and
Speaker 1: I'm excited about these ideas, it's really nice not to
Speaker 1: be furtively glancing at the clock trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how I can hang up in order to start my
Speaker 1: ten thirty call on time. White space invites these opportunities
Speaker 1: as we linger in good conversations or talk to people
Speaker 1: that we might not talk to when we feel starved
Speaker 1: for time. We've talked in plenty of previous episodes of
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast about how to build in white space, and
Speaker 1: one of my favorites is to be very careful about
Speaker 1: saying yes to things. Don't just ask whether you're free,
Speaker 1: really consider if it's a smart use of your time.
Speaker 1: And one way to gauge this is to ask of
Speaker 1: any request whether you'd be willing to do it tomorrow.
Speaker 1: You know exactly what you have on your plate tomorrow
Speaker 1: and how much energy you're likely to have We have
Speaker 1: absolutely no idea what our answers will be to these
Speaker 1: questions six months from now. Since it's hard to say no,
Speaker 1: the bias is to say yes, and this is what
Speaker 1: leads to our kicking ourselves about being overcommitted. I also
Speaker 1: recommend looking at your calendar once a week, maybe on
Speaker 1: Friday afternoons. As you look at the week ahead, figure
Speaker 1: out what doesn't have to happen. If you're going to
Speaker 1: cancel that Wednesday meeting, it's better to do it on
Speaker 1: Friday when everyone can make other plans versus Wednesday. Five
Speaker 1: minutes before start time, when you realize just how busy
Speaker 1: you are, you might see that a sixty minute in
Speaker 1: person meeting could be handled in a five minute phone call.
Speaker 1: If that's the case, pick up the phone and make
Speaker 1: that call. Or you might see that four people from
Speaker 1: your team are scheduled to be in a meeting. That's
Speaker 1: just about keeping your team informed. Probably one of you
Speaker 1: can do that. A meeting is not the popular kid's
Speaker 1: table in the middle school cafeteria. Do what you can
Speaker 1: to free up space, and please try to create white
Speaker 1: space at home too. As I create our kids activity schedules,
Speaker 1: I try to keep one completely open day with no activities.
Speaker 1: This is harder than it sounds with four and soon
Speaker 1: to be five kids and all sorts of things. But
Speaker 1: it's nice to have one day where we can relax,
Speaker 1: or the kids can put on their jammies at four
Speaker 1: pm if they want, or they can schedule longer homework
Speaker 1: projects or reschedule things that got bumped from other days.
Speaker 1: On weekends, we schedule some family adventures but leave some
Speaker 1: open time too. Life is really about the balance. So
Speaker 1: as you're studying your schedule this week, I challenge you
Speaker 1: to consciously create more white space. Can you create a
Speaker 1: work day with no meetings or appointments. If that's not possible,
Speaker 1: how about an afternoon or morning, or at least two
Speaker 1: hours open per day. You won't wind up twiddling your thumbs.
Speaker 1: Trust me, this time. We'll get filled with something. But
Speaker 1: leaving it open allows you to deal with what comes up,
Speaker 1: rather than being flustered by the unexpected. Because life is unexpected,
Speaker 1: you don't know for sure what will happen, but something will.
Speaker 1: Creating white space allows you to deal with it. I
Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed this five part series this week on
Speaker 1: making the most of your time in the new year.
Speaker 1: If you do enjoy this podcast, please tell a friend
Speaker 1: and be sure to rate and review Before Breakfast on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts in
Speaker 1: the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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