WEBVTT - Use bits of time for bits of joy

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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 to use bits of time for bits

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<v Speaker 1>of joy. So here's something I believe. Using time well

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<v Speaker 1>means getting the big pieces right. If your work feels

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<v Speaker 1>meaningful and enjoyable, and you're spending your work hours doing

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<v Speaker 1>challenging and interesting things, life is good. If you're spending

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<v Speaker 1>your personal hours nurturing your relationships with family and friends,

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<v Speaker 1>and you're making time for your health and hobbies, this

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<v Speaker 1>is wonderful. It really doesn't matter what else you do

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<v Speaker 1>with your time. However, I've noticed over the years that

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<v Speaker 1>even people doing these expert time management things often ponder

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<v Speaker 1>what to do about the little pieces of time in

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<v Speaker 1>their lives. You know what these are. Five minutes while

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<v Speaker 1>you're waiting for a phone call to start, five minutes

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<v Speaker 1>while you're waiting for the bus or for the car

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<v Speaker 1>pol to bring your kids home. I know what most

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<v Speaker 1>of us do with these little bits of time. We

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<v Speaker 1>pick up our phones and start deleting email. It feels

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<v Speaker 1>so productive to delete those emails right or else, we

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<v Speaker 1>take a quick look through social media sites to see

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<v Speaker 1>if anyone's liked our posts. These things are very easy

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<v Speaker 1>to do, and they fit well in bits of time,

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<v Speaker 1>but they can feel somewhat unsatisfying to do over and

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<v Speaker 1>over again. People who use their time well often want

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<v Speaker 1>to use all their time well, and so they wonder

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<v Speaker 1>what else they can do in bits of time to

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<v Speaker 1>bring bits of joy into their lives. I think it's

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<v Speaker 1>a great question. One of the reasons I started this

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<v Speaker 1>podcast was to give people something they could do in

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<v Speaker 1>little bits of time. You aim to get to your

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<v Speaker 1>train station five minutes before departure, and you listen to

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast in that little chunk of time. Hopefully you

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<v Speaker 1>heard something in an episode that will take your date

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<v Speaker 1>from great to awesome. But if you pay attention to

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<v Speaker 1>your time, you'll notice that there are a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>these chunks through the day. If you're caught up on

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<v Speaker 1>episodes well before, Fist can only fill one of them,

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<v Speaker 1>So what do you do with the rest. Over the

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<v Speaker 1>past few months, Before Breakfast listeners have written to me

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<v Speaker 1>with all kinds of ways that they use little bits

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<v Speaker 1>of time for bits of joy. One listener, who works

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<v Speaker 1>in a hotel and a cold climate, wrote that she

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<v Speaker 1>and her colleagues will go up and down the stairs

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<v Speaker 1>together during five to ten minute breaks. They get exercise

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<v Speaker 1>and social time and return to their work with a

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<v Speaker 1>lot more energy. Another listener wrote in that she uses

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<v Speaker 1>time on the bus to work on a language app.

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<v Speaker 1>It's hard to do focused work with stops and starts,

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<v Speaker 1>and no one's guaranteed to get a seed, which makes

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<v Speaker 1>other activities difficult, but she can use these short chunks

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<v Speaker 1>of time to add to her skills. I have the

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<v Speaker 1>Kindle app on my phone so I can read in

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<v Speaker 1>little bits of time. These bits of time can really

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<v Speaker 1>add up. It's not unusual for me to score an

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<v Speaker 1>extra twenty to twenty five minutes of reading time per

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<v Speaker 1>day when I'm looking at my phone while waiting in

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<v Speaker 1>a checkoutline, or when the gate agent says they're about

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<v Speaker 1>to board the plane, but then we don't board just yet. Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>those emails do need to be deleted at some point,

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<v Speaker 1>but you can delete email constantly and there will still

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<v Speaker 1>be more emails to delete. It's more effective to do

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<v Speaker 1>that in big batches and leave those bits of time

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<v Speaker 1>for something else. So at some point today, make a

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<v Speaker 1>list of things you can do with little bits of time.

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<v Speaker 1>Other than delete email or check social media. Call this

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<v Speaker 1>your bits of joy list? What can you do in

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<v Speaker 1>less than ten minutes to add joy and meaning to

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<v Speaker 1>your life. Maybe it's texting a friend or family member

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<v Speaker 1>to connect. Maybe it's brainstorming fun things to do on

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<v Speaker 1>the weekend. It could be reading a poem, doing a

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<v Speaker 1>quick meditation, coloring in one of those grown up coloring books,

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<v Speaker 1>doing a few entries and a crossword puzzle, looking at

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<v Speaker 1>a great work of art at a museum's website, or

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<v Speaker 1>reading a random Wikipedia entry. See if you can list

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<v Speaker 1>ten or more ideas, then choose a few favorites to

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<v Speaker 1>do as your defaults. Make sure you have the materials handy.

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<v Speaker 1>That way, when you find yourself on hold or waiting

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<v Speaker 1>for someone to call you, you can pull out those

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<v Speaker 1>colored pencils and start working on that coloring book. Life

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<v Speaker 1>will feel so much better then if you spend those

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<v Speaker 1>few minutes de leting emails that seem to regenerate themselves

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<v Speaker 1>before you even close your inbox. So what's on your

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<v Speaker 1>bits of joy list? Please email me and let me know.

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<v Speaker 1>You can write to me at Before Breakfast podcast at

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<v Speaker 1>I heart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four, then

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an

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<v Speaker 1>email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For more

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