1
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,400
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:13,640
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,960
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to try reading at lunch. We all

4
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,840
Speaker 1: need breaks from time to time. Lunch is as good

5
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:23,919
Speaker 1: a time as any to take a break. You have

6
00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 1: to eat, and you have to manage your energy. When

7
00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:31,240
Speaker 1: you don't break midday, the afternoon can easily disappear into

8
00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,520
Speaker 1: unfocused email reading or social media checks. You might wind

9
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,640
Speaker 1: up staying late just to get your work done. If

10
00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,479
Speaker 1: you've already worked through lunch, well, this can definitely lead

11
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:46,560
Speaker 1: to burnout. Breaks are smart, but this raises the question

12
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,440
Speaker 1: what should you do with this time during the work

13
00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,560
Speaker 1: day that you aren't working. One of the best ideas

14
00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,760
Speaker 1: I've heard lately is to use it to read. My

15
00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,240
Speaker 1: co host on the Best of Both Worlds podcast Best

16
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,399
Speaker 1: Sarah hart Hunger works as a physician. She spends her

17
00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:09,240
Speaker 1: days seeing patients and managing her hospital's residency program, so

18
00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:11,800
Speaker 1: she has recently been using her lunch break to make

19
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,720
Speaker 1: it through her summer reading list. I can't do this

20
00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 1: every day meetings, work, et cetera, she recently posted on

21
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,640
Speaker 1: her blog. But when I'm able to sneaking away to

22
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 1: read for thirty minutes while eating is the best. I

23
00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,000
Speaker 1: recognize it's a little antisocial, and I probably could be networking,

24
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,520
Speaker 1: but the rest of my job is so social and

25
00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,080
Speaker 1: I'm talking to everyone all of the time, so this

26
00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,240
Speaker 1: break is really nice and sometimes needed. I agree, and

27
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,160
Speaker 1: so did a lot of people posting comments on Sarah's blog.

28
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 1: One reader noted that closing my office door and reading

29
00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:51,320
Speaker 1: for thirty minutes over lunch is one of my sanity savers. Another,

30
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,400
Speaker 1: a teacher, noted that she was around people all the time,

31
00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,960
Speaker 1: reading while the kids were at lunch was her treat.

32
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:06,120
Speaker 1: Another commenter called lunchtime reading a nice mental pause. It's

33
00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:08,720
Speaker 1: also a great way to add more reading to your life.

34
00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,240
Speaker 1: If you read for thirty minutes at lunch twice a week,

35
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,680
Speaker 1: that's an extra hour of reading time each week. A

36
00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,560
Speaker 1: lot of commercial books take four to six hours to read,

37
00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,320
Speaker 1: so this means you can read an extra book every

38
00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,080
Speaker 1: four to six weeks, or an extra eight to thirteen

39
00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,519
Speaker 1: books a year. Reading a dozen books a year right

40
00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:32,360
Speaker 1: there puts you in the top half of readers. Of course,

41
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,320
Speaker 1: this is easier said than done. Many people find it

42
00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,119
Speaker 1: challenging to take a lunch break. In general, certain structural

43
00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,400
Speaker 1: decisions can help. You can push for an office culture

44
00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:46,320
Speaker 1: where morning meetings get scheduled on the hour and afternoon

45
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,880
Speaker 1: ones on the half hour. This builds a thirty minute

46
00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,280
Speaker 1: break in there somewhere. It's also good to socialize, and

47
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,440
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of grabbing lunch with colleagues to

48
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,560
Speaker 1: nurture relationships. But you don't have to do this five

49
00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,760
Speaker 1: days a week. Depending on the office culture, you just

50
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,720
Speaker 1: might need to be careful about how you handle reading time.

51
00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,400
Speaker 1: If you have an office, great, shut the door. If

52
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,000
Speaker 1: you don't go elsewhere, Sitting in a park or a

53
00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,400
Speaker 1: coffee shop or the restaurant where you grabbed your food

54
00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,760
Speaker 1: can work. Even your car would be fine. The company

55
00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,120
Speaker 1: cafeteria can be challenging because people won't be sure if

56
00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,440
Speaker 1: you want companionship or not. You might be better off

57
00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,280
Speaker 1: in a not frequently used conference room, or you can

58
00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,560
Speaker 1: just sit at your cubicle. One tip. I found that

59
00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,200
Speaker 1: people feel slightly less awkward reading e books on their

60
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,720
Speaker 1: phones when they're visible to other people. I can sit

61
00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 1: here and try to argue that pulling a paperback out

62
00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:44,840
Speaker 1: of your bag and reading it in the middle of

63
00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,080
Speaker 1: the work day should not be perceived as strange, but

64
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:53,000
Speaker 1: in some offices it is. Sometimes people feel judged for

65
00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,880
Speaker 1: not doing stuff that looks like work of the time.

66
00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,960
Speaker 1: But people look at their phones all day long. No

67
00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,600
Speaker 1: one has any idea what you're doing on it, so

68
00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,200
Speaker 1: feel free to put the books on there and read

69
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,920
Speaker 1: on the kindle app. By putting your brain in a

70
00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,120
Speaker 1: different space for half an hour, you'll return to work

71
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,880
Speaker 1: with new ideas and you'll feel like you've got a

72
00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:20,000
Speaker 1: mini vacation. You're not on the beach, but you can

73
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,120
Speaker 1: indulge in a beach read. Do you read on your

74
00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,560
Speaker 1: lunch break sometimes let me know. You can email me

75
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:32,680
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heart media dot com.

76
00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:37,000
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

77
00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:45,960
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

78
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,279
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

79
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,960
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions or anything else. Just connect with

80
00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:56,360
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

81
00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,400
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four, then breakfast p o D.

82
00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,120
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

83
00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,560
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

84
00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,280
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

85
00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:19,599
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

86
00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,840
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

87
00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,840
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

88
00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:28,960
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.