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: Today's tip is for when you are considering taking on
Speaker 1: new work, you want to look at the whole iceberg,
Speaker 1: not just the obvious visible stuff, but whatever hours of preparation, administration,
Speaker 1: or travel will be needed. That way you can make
Speaker 1: wiser decisions. Today's tip, like another this week, comes from
Speaker 1: Amantha Ember's new book time Wise. This book looks at
Speaker 1: various smart strategies for getting more done and feeling better
Speaker 1: about it. In the book, Amantha tells a story about
Speaker 1: taking on a project to improve an MBA program. It
Speaker 1: all sounded very exciting until she found herself in a
Speaker 1: four hour meeting in a windowless room, looking forward to
Speaker 1: many more such meetings. She had been focused on the
Speaker 1: shiny outcome, but of course that is not the only
Speaker 1: part of any task. Amantha sits an observation from John Zaratsky,
Speaker 1: an author and former design partner at Google Ventures, that
Speaker 1: we often give what he calls an iceberg. Yes, we
Speaker 1: say yes, because we are only seeing part of the iceberg.
Speaker 1: As they warn people on ships, icebergs aren't just the
Speaker 1: visible part of the ice above the water below the surface,
Speaker 1: there may be hundreds of feet of ice which can
Speaker 1: famously wreak havoc on a ship if you are not
Speaker 1: aware of it. So it goes with many projects. Going
Speaker 1: to an event isn't just the event itself. There's the preparation,
Speaker 1: the travel, the logistics that might be necessary for you
Speaker 1: to travel. Serving on a committee isn't just putting the
Speaker 1: committee on your resume. Most of the time, you will
Speaker 1: be meeting with people again and again, maybe during times
Speaker 1: when you would have preferred to do something else. Picture
Speaker 1: yourself on a lovely summer night while some friends have
Speaker 1: gone out to dinner, and you are sitting in a
Speaker 1: stuffy meeting room arguing a very small change to an
Speaker 1: awards rules. How do you feel about it now? When
Speaker 1: I put it that way, it sounds like people might
Speaker 1: never say yes to anything, But of course that's not true.
Speaker 1: I choose to sing in various concerts, even though performing
Speaker 1: requires hours of rehearsal time, because I enjoy the rehearsals
Speaker 1: for the most part. Two, there might be work projects
Speaker 1: that are exciting enough that you relish the meetings, or
Speaker 1: if nothing else, you can make sure you are compensated. Appropriately.
Speaker 1: Speaking rates, for instance, don't just reflect the hour somebody
Speaker 1: is on stage. They reflect the time necessary to prepare
Speaker 1: a speech, travel to the venue, travel home, and so forth.
Speaker 1: When you consider the whole iceberg, you can make wiser
Speaker 1: decisions about how to spend your time. You won't bite
Speaker 1: off more than you can chew. You won't feel resentful
Speaker 1: about unexpected work because it won't be unexpected. Now. To
Speaker 1: be sure, you can't always tell what the iceberg will
Speaker 1: look like, but you can do your due diligence. If
Speaker 1: you are considering adding something new to your life, speak
Speaker 1: to people who are already doing it. Ask about the
Speaker 1: time commitment. Ask about what prep work and administrative work
Speaker 1: is involved. If it's unclear, make an estimate. But know this,
Speaker 1: it probably won't be nothing. It is almost never nothing.
Speaker 1: You want to go into new commitments with your eyes open.
Speaker 1: In time wise, Amantha Ember writes that she wound up
Speaker 1: having to resign from the NBA committee after sinking time
Speaker 1: into it without even getting to the shiny part. So
Speaker 1: look at the whole iceberg. You will be far less
Speaker 1: likely to wind up sinking your schedule in what was
Speaker 1: an avoidable accident In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening and 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 the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.