1 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:06,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,319 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to use bits of time for bits 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: of joy. So here's something I believe. Using time well 5 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: means getting the big pieces right. If your work feels 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: meaningful and enjoyable, and you're spending your work hours doing 7 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: challenging and interesting things, life is good. If you're spending 8 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: your personal hours nurturing your relationships with family and friends, 9 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: and you're making time for your health and hobbies, this 10 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: is wonderful. It really doesn't matter what else you do 11 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: with your time. However, I've noticed over the years that 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: even people doing these expert time management things often ponder 13 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: what to do about the little pieces of time in 14 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: their lives. You know what these are. Five minutes while 15 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: you're waiting for a phone call to start, five minutes 16 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: while you're waiting for the bus or for the car 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: pol to bring your kids home. I know what most 18 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: of us do with these little bits of time. We 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,199 Speaker 1: pick up our phones and start deleting email. It feels 20 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: so productive to delete those emails right or else, we 21 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: take a quick look through social media sites to see 22 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 1: if anyone's liked our posts. These things are very easy 23 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: to do, and they fit well in bits of time, 24 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: but they can feel somewhat unsatisfying to do over and 25 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: over again. People who use their time well often want 26 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: to use all their time well, and so they wonder 27 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: what else they can do in bits of time to 28 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: bring bits of joy into their lives. I think it's 29 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: a great question. One of the reasons I started this 30 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: podcast was to give people something they could do in 31 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 1: little bits of time. You aim to get to your 32 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: train station five minutes before departure, and you listen to 33 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast in that little chunk of time. Hopefully you 34 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: heard something in an episode that will take your date 35 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: from great to awesome. But if you pay attention to 36 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: your time, you'll notice that there are a lot of 37 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: these chunks through the day. If you're caught up on 38 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: episodes well before, Fist can only fill one of them, 39 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: So what do you do with the rest. Over the 40 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: past few months, Before Breakfast listeners have written to me 41 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: with all kinds of ways that they use little bits 42 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: of time for bits of joy. One listener, who works 43 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: in a hotel and a cold climate, wrote that she 44 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: and her colleagues will go up and down the stairs 45 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,359 Speaker 1: together during five to ten minute breaks. They get exercise 46 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: and social time and return to their work with a 47 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: lot more energy. Another listener wrote in that she uses 48 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: time on the bus to work on a language app. 49 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: It's hard to do focused work with stops and starts, 50 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:34,920 Speaker 1: and no one's guaranteed to get a seed, which makes 51 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: other activities difficult, but she can use these short chunks 52 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: of time to add to her skills. I have the 53 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: Kindle app on my phone so I can read in 54 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: little bits of time. These bits of time can really 55 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: add up. It's not unusual for me to score an 56 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: extra twenty to twenty five minutes of reading time per 57 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 1: day when I'm looking at my phone while waiting in 58 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: a checkoutline, or when the gate agent says they're about 59 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: to board the plane, but then we don't board just yet. Sure, 60 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,959 Speaker 1: those emails do need to be deleted at some point, 61 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: but you can delete email constantly and there will still 62 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 1: be more emails to delete. It's more effective to do 63 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: that in big batches and leave those bits of time 64 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: for something else. So at some point today, make a 65 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: list of things you can do with little bits of time. 66 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: Other than delete email or check social media. Call this 67 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: your bits of joy list? What can you do in 68 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: less than ten minutes to add joy and meaning to 69 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: your life. Maybe it's texting a friend or family member 70 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: to connect. Maybe it's brainstorming fun things to do on 71 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: the weekend. It could be reading a poem, doing a 72 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: quick meditation, coloring in one of those grown up coloring books, 73 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: doing a few entries and a crossword puzzle, looking at 74 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: a great work of art at a museum's website, or 75 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,839 Speaker 1: reading a random Wikipedia entry. See if you can list 76 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: ten or more ideas, then choose a few favorites to 77 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: do as your defaults. Make sure you have the materials handy. 78 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: That way, when you find yourself on hold or waiting 79 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: for someone to call you, you can pull out those 80 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: colored pencils and start working on that coloring book. Life 81 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: will feel so much better then if you spend those 82 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: few minutes de leting emails that seem to regenerate themselves 83 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: before you even close your inbox. So what's on your 84 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: bits of joy list? Please email me and let me know. 85 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: You can write to me at Before Breakfast podcast at 86 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: I heart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. 87 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of 88 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. 89 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,679 Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. 90 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at 91 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four, then 92 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an 93 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that 94 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks 95 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before 96 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For more 97 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,559 Speaker 1: podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 98 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.