1
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:14,840
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,840
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to recognize that having no free time

4
00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,040
Speaker 1: and having not as much free time as you want

5
00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:28,520
Speaker 1: are very different stories. Telling yourself the correct story can

6
00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:33,200
Speaker 1: change how you view time. Over the years, I've had

7
00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,280
Speaker 1: thousands of people track their time for me, often on

8
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,440
Speaker 1: weekly spreadsheets, sometimes in narrative form, and sometimes in apps.

9
00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,200
Speaker 1: I have tracked my own time for more than five

10
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,599
Speaker 1: years now, and I've studied various other time diary studies,

11
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,800
Speaker 1: such as the American Time You Survey, in great detail.

12
00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:55,120
Speaker 1: What I have learned is that basically everyone has free time.

13
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,280
Speaker 1: Some people have a lot of free time. My children

14
00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,560
Speaker 1: managed to walk a lot of shows and play a

15
00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 1: lot of video games. Others of us have well less.

16
00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,520
Speaker 1: Caring for five children and running a business turns out

17
00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,600
Speaker 1: to take a reasonable quantity of time. When you look

18
00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,600
Speaker 1: at large scale time diary studies, it's no real surprise

19
00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,319
Speaker 1: that my particular demographic of folks, working mothers with kids

20
00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,679
Speaker 1: under the age of six, have the least amount of

21
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,240
Speaker 1: free time of other demographics. But and this is key,

22
00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:30,160
Speaker 1: we rarely have none and this is an important distinction.

23
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,320
Speaker 1: I don't know why people get wedded to the narrative

24
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,520
Speaker 1: that they have zero leisure time. I mean, sure, we

25
00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,000
Speaker 1: all have a lot to do and responsibilities can weigh heavily.

26
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,120
Speaker 1: Talking about how we have no free time is a

27
00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,840
Speaker 1: way to show others how hard we are working or

28
00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: how tough life can be. And it's definitely true that

29
00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:54,360
Speaker 1: life can be tough, but it's also true that no

30
00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,400
Speaker 1: one wins in the Misery Olympics. Claiming to have zero

31
00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:03,840
Speaker 1: free time is just fetist and also self defeating, because

32
00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,320
Speaker 1: when leisure time does appear, if you claim to have none,

33
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,280
Speaker 1: then you probably don't think about what you're going to

34
00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,160
Speaker 1: do with it, so you do things that aren't particularly rejuvenating,

35
00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 1: like scrolling around online. So let's try a different narrative.

36
00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,160
Speaker 1: We don't have zero free time, we just have not

37
00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,080
Speaker 1: as much as we want. Not as much as I

38
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,840
Speaker 1: want is a very different story from none. It implies

39
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,160
Speaker 1: some great questions right there, such as how can I

40
00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:36,960
Speaker 1: scale this up over time? And how can I best

41
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,480
Speaker 1: use the limited free time I do have to get

42
00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,399
Speaker 1: the most enjoyment out of it. These are far more

43
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,040
Speaker 1: useful questions. They might nudge us to do things such

44
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,240
Speaker 1: as track our time and see how much free time

45
00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,760
Speaker 1: usually occurs in any given twenty four hours or any

46
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,560
Speaker 1: given one. If I know I am going to have

47
00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 1: about two hours of free time each day, I can

48
00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,399
Speaker 1: decide that I want to spend forty five minutes exercising,

49
00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,480
Speaker 1: forty five minutes reading, and thirty nits on a jigsaw puzzle. Great.

50
00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:10,440
Speaker 1: I will know at the end of the day that

51
00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:14,080
Speaker 1: I have had some high quality leisure time, whereas if

52
00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,440
Speaker 1: I assume none, I won't think about what to do

53
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,920
Speaker 1: with it, and it will probably all wind up being

54
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,240
Speaker 1: spent staring at coronavirus headlines not as much as I want.

55
00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,000
Speaker 1: Helps us see where we might be able to redeploy

56
00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,800
Speaker 1: time towards the leisure category too. We might decide to

57
00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,000
Speaker 1: ask other adults in our lives for help, or lower

58
00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:37,080
Speaker 1: our standards for housework, or tell any older kids defend

59
00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,280
Speaker 1: for themselves from time to time. When it comes to time,

60
00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,640
Speaker 1: it is tempting to play the victim I have no

61
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,440
Speaker 1: time for fun, but saying I have some time, just

62
00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,440
Speaker 1: not as much as I want puts us back in charge.

63
00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,320
Speaker 1: We become the architects of our time. Looking to expand

64
00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,680
Speaker 1: and optimize a resource, and when we do that, we

65
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,080
Speaker 1: might be surprised at how much time for fun we

66
00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:10,520
Speaker 1: can find in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

67
00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

68
00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:22,800
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

69
00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,479
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

70
00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,919
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

71
00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:36,040
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then breakfast p o D.

72
00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,640
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

73
00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,080
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

74
00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,880
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

75
00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:54,120
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

76
00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,320
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

77
00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,360
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

78
00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,360
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H