WEBVTT - Finish the job

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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 finish the job. Once you have

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<v Speaker 1>already picked something up, it often just takes a few

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<v Speaker 1>extra seconds to completely deal with it. While in general

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<v Speaker 1>it is good to batch the little things, if you

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<v Speaker 1>have already taken the first few steps toward action, you

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<v Speaker 1>might as well get too done. Today's tip is inspired

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<v Speaker 1>by listener j c who rode in with a suggestion

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<v Speaker 1>about that common adage touch it once. She notes that

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<v Speaker 1>early in my career I learned the touch at once

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<v Speaker 1>rule when it came to filing and paperwork. That is,

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<v Speaker 1>you should deal with a document once and be done

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<v Speaker 1>with it. That's all fine for work, but Jace noted

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<v Speaker 1>that I found that it can apply to a variety

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<v Speaker 1>of quick tasks at work and at home. The idea

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<v Speaker 1>is that once you touch a dirty dish or an

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<v Speaker 1>object out of place, deal with it so you don't

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<v Speaker 1>have to come back to it now. As with everything,

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<v Speaker 1>there is a caveat here. In general, I believe in

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<v Speaker 1>batching the little things. That is actually tranquility by Tuesday

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<v Speaker 1>rule number eight for my most recent book, don't pay

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<v Speaker 1>bills as you get them, pay them in one fell

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<v Speaker 1>swoop at a low energy time. Respond to all your

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<v Speaker 1>low priority emails at once, rather than as you get them,

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<v Speaker 1>because if you respond to them as you get them,

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<v Speaker 1>you will basically never do anything else. That said, once

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<v Speaker 1>you've engaged in a process halfway, say you have pulled

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<v Speaker 1>out your check book to start paying a paper bill,

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<v Speaker 1>it would make no sense to stop after writing the

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<v Speaker 1>check before putting it in the envelope. You will just

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<v Speaker 1>have to take another minute later to finish the job.

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<v Speaker 1>So better get it stamped and ready to go out

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<v Speaker 1>the door. Now it seems obvious, but we often make

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<v Speaker 1>more work for ourselves by not following through. The Other day,

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<v Speaker 1>I found some art supplies in the wrong place in

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<v Speaker 1>the house. I carried them all the way up the

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<v Speaker 1>stairs to the closet where we keep such things. Then

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<v Speaker 1>I put them down outside the closet door. As I

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<v Speaker 1>look back on this, now, this doesn't make a whole

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<v Speaker 1>lot of sense. It would have taken maybe ten seconds

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<v Speaker 1>maybe less to open the door and chuck the supplies

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<v Speaker 1>in there. But instead of doing that ten second task,

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<v Speaker 1>I left the supplies out in the hallway, even though

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<v Speaker 1>that risked some little person in my household moving them

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<v Speaker 1>to the wrong place again, or somebody tripping over them,

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<v Speaker 1>or who knows what. Maybe I was hoping that someone

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<v Speaker 1>else would take the ten seconds to put them away

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<v Speaker 1>so I wouldn't have had to devote the ten seconds

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<v Speaker 1>to moving them. But sadly, the most likely outcome is

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<v Speaker 1>that this wasn't going to happen, and so when I

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<v Speaker 1>was next up there, I would eventually have to get

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<v Speaker 1>around to putting them in the closet. Better to finish

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<v Speaker 1>the job the first time, So the next time you

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<v Speaker 1>start a job, think about how you can finish it.

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<v Speaker 1>I recently read a decluttering book where the author pointed

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<v Speaker 1>out that disorganized people create all sorts of piles while decluttering,

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<v Speaker 1>and so the room never winds up looking much better.

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<v Speaker 1>The author recommended actually carrying misplaced objects to where they

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<v Speaker 1>go immediately. Is this efficient? Well? Probably not. There may

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<v Speaker 1>be six toys in the kitchen that have to go

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<v Speaker 1>to a kid's bedroom, and if you do see a handful,

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<v Speaker 1>grab them all before you go. But the problem with

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<v Speaker 1>making a pile to go up is that the pile

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<v Speaker 1>may still be sitting there a week later and it

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<v Speaker 1>feels like you are making no progress. Better to make

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<v Speaker 1>two to three trips to the room and actually have

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<v Speaker 1>the kitchens start to look better. Most of us need

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<v Speaker 1>more steps and activity these days. Anyway, Finish the job

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<v Speaker 1>and you can in fact be finished. That is better

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<v Speaker 1>than constantly living somewhere around halfway done. 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 moods 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 hot that's B the number four,

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>That before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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