WEBVTT - Make hope tangible

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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 make hope tangible. As you consider

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<v Speaker 1>your new year's resolutions or goals, find a symbol for

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<v Speaker 1>your hopes. This can help you maintain your focus all

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<v Speaker 1>year long. So at some point we have all experienced

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<v Speaker 1>a gap between hope and reality. In late December. We

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<v Speaker 1>have great intentions for the healthy habits we will form,

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<v Speaker 1>the goals we will reach, and the projects we will

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<v Speaker 1>complete in the new year. Then we forget all about

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<v Speaker 1>them by the time we have vacuumed up the spruce needles.

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<v Speaker 1>When life gets busy, we can get so absorbed in

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<v Speaker 1>where we are that it is easy to lose sight

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<v Speaker 1>of where we are going. To avoid this, we need

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<v Speaker 1>something that will nudge those goals back to the front

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<v Speaker 1>of our minds. Finding something tangible that can remind you

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<v Speaker 1>of where you are going can be a powerful tool

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<v Speaker 1>for keeping you headed in the right direction. Suppose your

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<v Speaker 1>goal for is to save money for a down payment

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<v Speaker 1>so you can buy your first home. You could get

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<v Speaker 1>an artistic print or photo of a house and hang

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<v Speaker 1>it above your desk, so that when you are thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about doing some online shopping, you will see a reason

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<v Speaker 1>to curb your spending and divert more cash to your

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<v Speaker 1>down payment fund. Or you could tuck a little photo

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<v Speaker 1>of your dream house into your wallet to remind yourself

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<v Speaker 1>why you want to pull your credit card out less

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<v Speaker 1>frequently in the new year. If you want to invest

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<v Speaker 1>more time in your relationships, put photos of your friends

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<v Speaker 1>and family on your desk so you will be prompted

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<v Speaker 1>to call or text when you have a free moment

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<v Speaker 1>at work instead of checking your email, and to consider

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<v Speaker 1>whether you actually need to stay late every night or

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<v Speaker 1>whether you can leave earlier to spend more time with

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<v Speaker 1>the people you love. If you are trying to reduce

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<v Speaker 1>your environmental impact, get let's say a globe key chain

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<v Speaker 1>that could prompt you to consider biking when you pull

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<v Speaker 1>out your keys, and to turn down the thermostat and

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<v Speaker 1>turn off the lights as you were locking the door.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want to eat more fruits and vegetables, put

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<v Speaker 1>a fun apple magnet on your fridge to remind yourself

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<v Speaker 1>of your healthy eating intentions before you break out the popsicles. Now.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, anything can become part of the background over time.

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<v Speaker 1>Plenty of people put photos of their families on their

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<v Speaker 1>desks and then stop noticing them. If you've got a

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<v Speaker 1>million fridge magnets, the apple one won't be any more

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<v Speaker 1>helpful than the one with the number of your dentists.

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<v Speaker 1>So you do need to do a little work to

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<v Speaker 1>link the object with the intention, but this can be

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<v Speaker 1>as much a part of building the habit as anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>When you do notice the object for the first few weeks,

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<v Speaker 1>take a few seconds to really look at it or

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<v Speaker 1>touch it. Repeat the intention a few times. Hopefully this

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<v Speaker 1>will cement the link, and if you notice yourself not noticing,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe it's time to switch out the tangible reminder, put

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<v Speaker 1>a different magnet on the fridge, or put a different

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<v Speaker 1>photo of your family on your desk, whatever it takes

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<v Speaker 1>to pay attention. In any case, by finding tangible reminders

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<v Speaker 1>of our goals and hopes, we can nudge them a

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<v Speaker 1>little closer to the front of our minds. Life gets busy,

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<v Speaker 1>it is easy to forget about just about anything, but

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<v Speaker 1>this is one way to add a little more consciousness

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<v Speaker 1>to our lives, which is almost always a good thing.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening. And

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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<v Speaker 1>that's b the number four than breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeart media dot com that before Breakfast is

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<v Speaker 1>spelled out with all the nurse Thanks so much, I

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<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H