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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that time is what you make of it.

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Speaker 1: When you know how you are spending your time, now,

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Speaker 1: you can take steps to spend more time on what

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Speaker 1: you want and less on what you don't. Longtime listeners

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Speaker 1: know that I host regular time tracking challenges. If you

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Speaker 1: follow my blog Laura vandercam dot com, you can see

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Speaker 1: how I am spending my time this week, all one

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty eight hours starting Monday morning to Sunday.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like, you can track along with me. I

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Speaker 1: know some people find it more motivating to do something

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Speaker 1: when others are doing it too. If you have never

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Speaker 1: tracked your time before, I encourage you to try it.

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Speaker 1: And if you have tried before, why not try again.

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Speaker 1: Life isn't static, and September is always a time of change.

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Speaker 1: New schedules require new strategies or at least recommitting to

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Speaker 1: the old ones. All you have to do is check

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Speaker 1: in three to four times per day and write down

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Speaker 1: what you did since the last check in. You can

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Speaker 1: use a spreadsheet like I do, or a time tracking

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Speaker 1: app or just write things down in a little notebook.

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Speaker 1: Just go with whatever is easiest for you and whatever

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Speaker 1: you think you will stick with. As you are doing this,

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Speaker 1: you can start reflecting on your time. One of the

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Speaker 1: things I see most clearly in every time log is

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Speaker 1: how much control I have over my time. Now. Granted,

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Speaker 1: I work for myself, so it makes sense that the

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Speaker 1: work hours will reflect some of that autonomy. But even

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the time I am spending with

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Speaker 1: my family and dealing with the schedules and needs of

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Speaker 1: five kids, there is choice. If I want to do

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Speaker 1: something fun in the evening, I can make a plan

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Speaker 1: and rally some of the younger kids to do it.

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Speaker 1: If I want to create some adventure on the weekend,

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Speaker 1: I have the power to make that come to be.

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Speaker 1: Even during constrained time, like when I am sitting with

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Speaker 1: a kid at an activity, I could be bored and

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Speaker 1: staring at my phone, or I could have been proactive

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Speaker 1: and gotten something fascinating from the library. Then I could

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Speaker 1: spend an hour reading that. During low energy times at night,

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Speaker 1: I can putter around the house, or I can think

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Speaker 1: about what might be rejuvenating, like sitting on the hammock

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Speaker 1: outside and looking at the stars or taking a bubble bath,

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Speaker 1: or doing a puzzle, or choose some combination of those things.

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Speaker 1: Time is what we make of it. Even within the

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Speaker 1: very real limits of life as it is, we have

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Speaker 1: the power to shift a lot. If a time log

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Speaker 1: shows that life is all work and family responsibilities, that

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Speaker 1: can be a nudge to text a friend and schedule

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Speaker 1: a get together. If life feels like all chores, that

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Speaker 1: can be a nudge to schedule in an hour of

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Speaker 1: reading and simply do that first on the weekend before

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Speaker 1: cleaning anything up at work. A day could be nothing

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Speaker 1: but emails and boring meetings that should have been emails.

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Speaker 1: Or maybe there can be a twenty minute coffee with

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Speaker 1: that young person that you are thrilled to Mentor we

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Speaker 1: can build the lives we want in the time that

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Speaker 1: we've got. So why not see where your time is

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Speaker 1: going now so you can figure out what to celebrate

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Speaker 1: and what to change. This week is a good week

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Speaker 1: to track, but any week is a good week to track.

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Speaker 1: Time is what we make of it, and I promise

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Speaker 1: that it is possible to make something really cool in

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Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the

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Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com

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Speaker 1: that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

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Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.