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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Good Morning, This is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 2: Today's tip is to think ahead of time about your

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Speaker 2: first few days back from my vacation or any extended

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Speaker 2: time away from work. With a little planning, you can

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Speaker 2: make this transition a lot more gentle. So this summer,

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Speaker 2: I decided to take one of my longest stretches of

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Speaker 2: time ever away from my desk. I planned to be

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Speaker 2: away from my office for about three weeks, and I

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Speaker 2: would do some work during the time, but I knew

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Speaker 2: that recording in general was going to be challenging, so

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Speaker 2: I recorded episodes for this podcast and my other podcast,

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Speaker 2: Best of Both Worlds ahead of time for the time

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Speaker 2: I was gone, And that makes sense. But I knew

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Speaker 2: that my first week back would also be the first

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Speaker 2: week of school. With five kids and four different schools,

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Speaker 2: there were just going to be a lot of logistical

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Speaker 2: matters to deal with in addition to whatever non urgent

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Speaker 2: work had piled up over three weeks.

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Speaker 1: If I was racing to record content to meet my deadlines,

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Speaker 1: that would just add to the stress. So that meant

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Speaker 1: I needed to work an extra week ahead. But if

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Speaker 1: I could do that, I would find my reentry to

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Speaker 1: feel a lot more doable.

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Speaker 2: Now. I know that not all sorts of work lend

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Speaker 2: themselves to working ahead. If you are running a bakery

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Speaker 2: where you bake everything fresh every morning, then this tip

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Speaker 2: might not be relevant. But many of us do have

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Speaker 2: at least some kinds of work that can be done ahead.

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Speaker 2: You can't do everything for that first week back ahead

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Speaker 2: of time, but if there is some work you can do,

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Speaker 2: then by working ahead on that, you'll free up time

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Speaker 2: to do the stuff that must be done more immediately.

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Speaker 2: So if you know that your team member evaluations are

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Speaker 2: going to be due four days after you get back

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Speaker 2: from a week away, why wait to start until after

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Speaker 2: you return. You're going to be catching up on other

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Speaker 2: things the first day or two, and then suddenly this

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Speaker 2: is going to feel like a huge looming deadline. Take

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Speaker 2: at least a little time before you go to start

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Speaker 2: on the project, and you will be in a much

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Speaker 2: better position for your first days back. If you produce

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Speaker 2: some sort of weekly report, you might have asked a

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Speaker 2: colleague to take over for the week you're gone, but

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Speaker 2: you can go ahead and get started on anything you

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Speaker 2: can do ahead of time for the report that will

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Speaker 2: come out the week you're back. That way, you've got

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Speaker 2: one less thing to worry about. Now. I know that

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Speaker 2: this isn't particularly easy to do. Before you head out

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Speaker 2: of the office for a while, you are no doubt

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Speaker 2: racing to get stuff done for while you're gone, or

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Speaker 2: figuring out who can cover for you and filling them in.

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Speaker 2: Adding one more thing to the to do list might

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Speaker 2: seem like a big ask, and maybe it is. If

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Speaker 2: you look ahead and see that your first days back

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Speaker 2: are going to be pretty light, then maybe you can

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Speaker 2: just trust that your future self will be able to

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Speaker 2: dig deep and do everything that needs to get done.

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Speaker 2: But if you can look ahead and see that it

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Speaker 2: isn't a light week, then that can weigh on you

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Speaker 2: and keep you from enjoying your time away. Get a

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Speaker 2: little bit ahead and make a plan for when you're back,

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Speaker 2: and you can feel just a little more in control

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Speaker 2: in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 2: here's to making the most of our time.

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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can

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Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just

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Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. At before

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Speaker 1: breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then breakfast Pod.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or where whatever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Mm hmm.