WEBVTT - One at a time 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about how to tackle multiple projects when

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<v Speaker 1>they all need to get done. You have a long

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<v Speaker 1>time to do them, but not a lot of focus time. Recently,

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<v Speaker 1>I heard from a podcast listener who's a college instructor.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the summer, she noted her workload was lighter, but

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<v Speaker 1>she always had projects she needs to accomplish. By the

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<v Speaker 1>end of August, she had new courses to design, old

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<v Speaker 1>courses to tweak, research projects, and curriculum to write up.

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<v Speaker 1>Her question, how should she plan her time to complete

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<v Speaker 1>several projects over the course of a few months. Would

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<v Speaker 1>it be better to work on each project simultaneously, putting

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<v Speaker 1>in a bit of time each day to each project,

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<v Speaker 1>or should she focus on one project at a time

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<v Speaker 1>and only start a new one when the others were completed.

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<v Speaker 1>As she noted, many people have this experience of feeling

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<v Speaker 1>like you have plenty of time in her case, three months,

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<v Speaker 1>and then having the season slip away. You end without

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<v Speaker 1>accomplishing as much as you wanted. In her case, she

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<v Speaker 1>also had the situation I know many listeners are coping

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<v Speaker 1>with right now two small kids at home all summer,

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<v Speaker 1>so these projects needed to be tackled around whatever time

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<v Speaker 1>she could seize. I think the biggest challenge in this

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<v Speaker 1>case is that you can always feel like you should

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<v Speaker 1>be doing something else. So here was my advice. Make

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<v Speaker 1>a list of exactly what needs to be accomplished over

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<v Speaker 1>the summer. In her case, maybe there would be three

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<v Speaker 1>big projects, designing a new course, completely revamping an old one,

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<v Speaker 1>and doing a research project. Then she could assign each

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<v Speaker 1>of these a portion of the summer. YEP, I believe

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<v Speaker 1>in doing one thing at a time. Maybe she would

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<v Speaker 1>revamp the course during the first three weeks, take four

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<v Speaker 1>weeks to design the new course, and then devote the

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<v Speaker 1>next four weeks to her research project. The reason to

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<v Speaker 1>do one task at a time is that you can

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<v Speaker 1>focus all your energy on its completion. When you do that,

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<v Speaker 1>you can make progress even in interrupted bits of time.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also relax because you're not constantly thinking you

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<v Speaker 1>should be doing something else. When you're working on revamping

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<v Speaker 1>one course, you know that there is time to design

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<v Speaker 1>a new course, but that is in July, not now.

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<v Speaker 1>It will get done in turn. As for making progress

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<v Speaker 1>in bits of time around childcare. This two can be

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<v Speaker 1>frustrating if you're unsure what you should be doing, so

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<v Speaker 1>I recommended that this listener break her big projects down

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<v Speaker 1>into small steps and then organize these by what she

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<v Speaker 1>could get done in tiny bits of interrupted time and

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<v Speaker 1>what would require focus. She could aim to do one

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<v Speaker 1>focused thing a day, either during nap time or in

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<v Speaker 1>the morning before the kids got up or after they

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<v Speaker 1>went to bed, or when her partner could cover. She

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<v Speaker 1>could also assign herself a handful of smaller tasks that

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<v Speaker 1>didn't require much time, such as sending an email or

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<v Speaker 1>mailing a form. When she got through those tasks each day,

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<v Speaker 1>she could then relax. There would be time to do

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<v Speaker 1>other stuff later, so she could enjoy being with the

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<v Speaker 1>kids instead of constantly thinking she should be doing something else.

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<v Speaker 1>If she did one big project at a time and

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<v Speaker 1>broke each project down into doable steps, with a short

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<v Speaker 1>list of steps assigned each day, I suspect that she

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<v Speaker 1>would feel like she'd had the most productive summer ever.

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<v Speaker 1>And if you do the same, I think you will too.

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<v Speaker 1>You can do a lot in a few minutes, but

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<v Speaker 1>only if you know what you need to do. Plan

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<v Speaker 1>this out fully focus and you'll be unstoppable. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b E the

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<v Speaker 1>number four, then breakfast p o D. You can also

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<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i

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<v Speaker 1>heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

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<v Speaker 1>with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

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<v Speaker 1>to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

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<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.