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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 to enjoy your efficiency dividend. As we become

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Speaker 1: more experienced and connected, certain work tasks can be done

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Speaker 1: a lot faster. There are lots of things you can

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Speaker 1: do with this time, but recognizing its existence is a

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Speaker 1: good first step. So I recently got a question from

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Speaker 1: someone whose full time job was not taking her forty

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Speaker 1: hours a week. She worked remotely and was able to

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Speaker 1: meet all her work objectives in under thirty hours a week.

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Speaker 1: Everyone she worked with was happy with her performance, So

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Speaker 1: the question is this a problem? I think this is

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Speaker 1: a relatively common scenario with some sorts of white collar jobs,

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Speaker 1: particularly for experienced and skilled people who have chosen not

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Speaker 1: to move into management. Everyone is hired with the expectation

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Speaker 1: that the bundle of tasks designated as a full time

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Speaker 1: job will take about forty hours a week, but people

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Speaker 1: obviously have wildly different levels of efficiency. Someone just starting

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Speaker 1: out won't know how to do things, so tasks will

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Speaker 1: take them longer. Even people who have been in the

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Speaker 1: same business the same amount of time might work at

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Speaker 1: different paces and then there is the reality that the

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Speaker 1: longer you do something, the more you know your way

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Speaker 1: around things. Someone who is not well connected in an

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Speaker 1: industry might spend a lot of time figuring out out

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Speaker 1: how to get some bit of information or how to

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Speaker 1: get something to happen. Someone with a lot of experience

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Speaker 1: just picks up the phone and asks for a favor.

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Speaker 1: What could have taken weeks takes five minutes. What this

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Speaker 1: means is that people with a lot of experience wind

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Speaker 1: up with what I call a time dividend, or perhaps

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Speaker 1: an efficiency dividend. They've invested time over the years in

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Speaker 1: building their skills in their networks, and now it is

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Speaker 1: paying off. What could have taken forty hours years ago

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Speaker 1: now takes thirty. So what do we do with this?

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Speaker 1: I don't think the answer is to force people to

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Speaker 1: sit in the office coming up with things to do

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Speaker 1: to look busy. Some people might ask for more work,

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Speaker 1: and if you sense others are overwhelmed or could use

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Speaker 1: your guidance, that would be a wise and kind thing

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Speaker 1: to do. But there are other options. Some folks might

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Speaker 1: disagree with me on this, but if you are in

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Speaker 1: a season of life, or your personal life is extremely busy.

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Speaker 1: It might be okay to just accept this for a

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Speaker 1: while your full time job takes thirty hours a week,

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Speaker 1: thank goodness, because you are dealing with your elderly parents,

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Speaker 1: doctor's appointments, or maybe a health issue of your own.

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Speaker 1: There will be other times in life when you work more,

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Speaker 1: no doubt you already have. For those not dealing with

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Speaker 1: these issues, I think it might be best in this

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Speaker 1: situation to come up with your own project for those

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Speaker 1: extra hours that is related to your career development. Read

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Speaker 1: broadly in your field network, go to those various virtual

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Speaker 1: semis and ours your company holds, or to any conferences

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Speaker 1: you think might be useful. Start an employee group for

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Speaker 1: something you find fascinating. Have lots of virtual coffees with

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Speaker 1: new hires to get to know them. Those things are

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Speaker 1: all better than working slower just to show that you

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Speaker 1: are busy. They will most likely pay off for your employer,

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Speaker 1: but they will definitely pay off for you. In any case,

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Speaker 1: it is most helpful to recognize what's going on. Some

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Speaker 1: people feel uneasy if their work is taking them less

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Speaker 1: time than it used to, but no banker is sad

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Speaker 1: about getting dividends. Likewise, there is no reason to worry

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Speaker 1: about work, taking less time than it used to. That

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Speaker 1: is part of building up your career capital. Eventually you

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Speaker 1: get returns in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

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Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

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Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.