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: Over the next few weeks, I'll be doing a few
Speaker 1: episodes on how to make your schedule and your life
Speaker 1: a little more resilient. Life can definitely be tough sometimes,
Speaker 1: but what matters most is how you pick yourself back
Speaker 1: up and move forward. Today's tip is about how to
Speaker 1: learn from wasted time, because when we learn useful lessons
Speaker 1: from wasted time, well it isn't really a waste of time. First,
Speaker 1: I want to put a definition out there. I have
Speaker 1: seen a number of books and articles lately waxing eloquent
Speaker 1: about wasted time. Usually the person has decided to label
Speaker 1: anything that is not work or are leading to a
Speaker 1: big personal goal, such as running a marathon, as wasted time.
Speaker 1: This allows the person to argue against something of a
Speaker 1: straw man that the world wants all time to be work,
Speaker 1: and by spending time staring at the clouds, our author
Speaker 1: is fighting the powers that be. I beg to differ.
Speaker 1: Staring at the clouds is not wasted time. Hanging out
Speaker 1: all night with friends and family is definitely not wasted time.
Speaker 1: Puttering around with a hobby you enjoy is not wasted time.
Speaker 1: These things are all fun, and fun is awesome. Instead,
Speaker 1: I would argue that time is wasted when it turns
Speaker 1: out to be neither meaningful nor enjoyable for you or
Speaker 1: the people you care about. By that definition, puttering around
Speaker 1: with a hobby is not wasted time. But sitting in
Speaker 1: a meeting that didn't actually need to happen, Now that
Speaker 1: is a waste. Commuting on a day when there was
Speaker 1: no reason not to work from home, well that might
Speaker 1: be a waste too. Sending a hot email that then
Speaker 1: requires an hour of follow up emails to walk back
Speaker 1: definitely wasted time. Looking for the shoes you misplaced that
Speaker 1: can burn minutes too. Alas, these are all fairly common
Speaker 1: ways to waste time, so I will also put this
Speaker 1: out there. We all waste time. I waste time quite
Speaker 1: a bit of time. In fact, you probably waste time too.
Speaker 1: I have seen thousands of time lugs over the years,
Speaker 1: and I have yet to see one where every single
Speaker 1: minute was devoted to a professional or personal priority. When
Speaker 1: people track their time, they are sometimes dismayed by this.
Speaker 1: Some people don't even want to track their time because
Speaker 1: they figured they might be wasting time. Best not to
Speaker 1: let that be known. But you know what this is shortsighted.
Speaker 1: It is human nature to spend at least some time
Speaker 1: on things that are neither meaningful nor enjoyable for us
Speaker 1: or the people we care about, and beyond that, once
Speaker 1: time is gone, it is gone. The best way to
Speaker 1: redeem wasted time is to figure out what we can
Speaker 1: learn from it. So I would recommend tracking your time,
Speaker 1: ideally for a week. Write down what you're doing as
Speaker 1: often as you remember, in as much detail as you
Speaker 1: think will be helpful for you. Then look at the record.
Speaker 1: Note the times when you felt disappointed in how the
Speaker 1: time was spent, or angry or bored. What was going on?
Speaker 1: Why did you feel that way? I have thought about
Speaker 1: this in my own life. I am more likely to
Speaker 1: spend long chunks of time grolling around online when I
Speaker 1: don't have anything else I actively want to do when
Speaker 1: leisure time appears, so I try to always have a
Speaker 1: good e book available on my phone and a puzzle
Speaker 1: I'm working on to nudge me off my screens too.
Speaker 1: As for work days, I'm less likely to wind up
Speaker 1: on unnecessarily long or unfocused calls. If I'm clear on
Speaker 1: getting agendas beforehand. When I am excited about big projects,
Speaker 1: I spend less time on unfocused email checks. Make sure
Speaker 1: you've got work in your work days that you want
Speaker 1: to do. Of course, there are always big projects that
Speaker 1: don't lead to anything either. I've been involved in several
Speaker 1: things over the years that have taken weeks, sometimes months,
Speaker 1: and not hand out. Maybe you have to people start
Speaker 1: businesses that they eventually need to shut down, or maybe
Speaker 1: you spend long nights on a project for a client
Speaker 1: that they don't wind up using. When we know time
Speaker 1: is finite, this can hurt. I would suggest never making
Speaker 1: a sacrifice that you will regret should things go differently.
Speaker 1: But try this for wasted time. Once the time is spent,
Speaker 1: think through how you can recast this time. What skills
Speaker 1: did you practice, what lessons did you learn? This can
Speaker 1: make you more resilient. For instance, I have several novels
Speaker 1: in a drawer that will never go anywhere. I have
Speaker 1: written books that were published but that very few people read.
Speaker 1: All of these I have taken to viewing as the
Speaker 1: equivalent of writing practice. They weren't the performances I hoped
Speaker 1: to have, but every hour of writing practice improves my
Speaker 1: craft for the books that people have wound up reading.
Speaker 1: Maybe a failed project introduced you to someone that you
Speaker 1: love having in your life now. Maybe it taught you
Speaker 1: what you don't like in a way you couldn't help noticing.
Speaker 1: That helps you figure out your real passions. When you
Speaker 1: learn from wasted time, it isn't wasted time. It's like
Speaker 1: reading a book or getting a degree. Since the time
Speaker 1: is gone, we're best off using these lessons as a
Speaker 1: guide to spending time better in the future. This is
Speaker 1: how we make our lives more resilient. So what have
Speaker 1: you learned from wasted time? I'd love to hear about it.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: 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 E the number four then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.