Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to manage your energy when
Speaker 1: you regularly work long hours. I recently received a letter
Speaker 1: from a Before Breakfast listener who was dealing with this
Speaker 1: scenario in her particular industry. She noted that she regularly
Speaker 1: worked twelve to thirteen hour days with no flexibility in
Speaker 1: terms of when I start or end my day, and
Speaker 1: obviously no working from home and a seventy minute minimum commute.
Speaker 1: I'm struggling to stay afloat in terms of my relationships
Speaker 1: and self care. Our listener rights between the hours and
Speaker 1: my drive. I'm lucky if I get six hours of
Speaker 1: sleep a night. What advice do you have for dealing
Speaker 1: with the schedule like this? I responded to our listener
Speaker 1: that long hours can be really challenging. I know that
Speaker 1: some industries and organizations pride themselves on grueling hours. In general,
Speaker 1: I think this is a big mistake. From studying time logs,
Speaker 1: I found a definite point of diminishing returns. Most people
Speaker 1: cannot do productive work for more than forty to fifty
Speaker 1: hours a week over a sustained period of time. Of course,
Speaker 1: what's often happening is that places with reported seventy or
Speaker 1: eighty hour work weeks are actually only featuring forty to
Speaker 1: fifty hours of real work. But there can be a
Speaker 1: lot of sitting around, being available, though not on or
Speaker 1: waiting for other people. I think recognizing this aspect of
Speaker 1: long hour jobs can help with managing energy, and there
Speaker 1: are some other things to try to first whenever someone
Speaker 1: is feeling overwhelmed, I recommend tracking time. It's good to
Speaker 1: know the exact dimensions of long weeks. Our listener says
Speaker 1: she frequently works twelve to thirteen hour days. Does this
Speaker 1: mean they're all twelve to thirteen hours or are some
Speaker 1: days shorter? Is there a pattern to when these shorter
Speaker 1: days happen? What is the rhythm of these twelve to
Speaker 1: thirteen hour days? Are there periods of holding and periods
Speaker 1: of intensity? The most important question, does she generally have
Speaker 1: weekends off? Needless to say, five twelve hour days are
Speaker 1: more manageable than six or seven twelve hour days per week,
Speaker 1: so this matter is quite a bit. Once she has
Speaker 1: the landscape of her time plotted out, she can start
Speaker 1: to figure out how to strategically build in rejuvenating non
Speaker 1: work activities. If people work long hours during the week
Speaker 1: but generally have weekends off, then the answer to this
Speaker 1: question is pretty simple. Push the bulk of your relationship
Speaker 1: time and self care to your days off. Weekends are
Speaker 1: real days, two they really count. We don't need to
Speaker 1: write them off as irrelevant to our schedules. On the
Speaker 1: sleep front, while it's better to get the same amount
Speaker 1: every night, someone who sleeps six hours four nights per
Speaker 1: week and nine hours three nights per week is getting
Speaker 1: fifty one hours a week, which is about seven point
Speaker 1: three hours a day on average, which isn't about at all. Likewise, well,
Speaker 1: it's better to exercise more days of the week than not.
Speaker 1: Someone who exercises consistently for sixty to ninety minutes on
Speaker 1: Saturday and Sunday is getting two to three hours of
Speaker 1: exercise per week. That's the same as someone who works
Speaker 1: out for thirty minutes four to six days per week.
Speaker 1: And of course, seeing friends and family two days per
Speaker 1: week is much better than seeing them zero days per week.
Speaker 1: Celebrating these accomplishments feels a lot better than maintaining a
Speaker 1: narrative of having no time. I also think it's possible
Speaker 1: to fit in bits of self care during the week too,
Speaker 1: even with long hours. For instance, if people take smoke breaks,
Speaker 1: then our listener can probably slip away for five to
Speaker 1: ten minutes to get in a brief walk. If there's
Speaker 1: downtime while she's waiting for people, she can get in
Speaker 1: the habit of using these little bits of time to
Speaker 1: read a book. Now. I know that in some organizations
Speaker 1: whipping out a paperback out of your bag will send
Speaker 1: people into connections, but they don't actually have to know
Speaker 1: what you're doing. I feel like most people's heads are
Speaker 1: in their phones all day anyway, and if you're waiting
Speaker 1: for someone to give you something, they tend not to
Speaker 1: mind you looking at your phone. So put e books
Speaker 1: on your phone and read those. If you can't even
Speaker 1: access your phone, you can use little bits of downtime
Speaker 1: to meditate or pray or otherwise engage in positive reflective activities.
Speaker 1: These little treats can go a long way our listeners
Speaker 1: work days may end unpredictably, but it's still possible to
Speaker 1: plan around this. She should come up with a go
Speaker 1: to option for any days that wind up on the
Speaker 1: shorter side. An eleven hour day, for instance, would get
Speaker 1: her home and time to face time with a friend,
Speaker 1: or do a yoga video or read for thirty minutes
Speaker 1: before going to so she should figure out which of
Speaker 1: those to prioritize or have a rotating schedule. Doing this
Speaker 1: will keep her from using any found time for scrolling
Speaker 1: online or checking social media, which, while easy, tends not
Speaker 1: to feel like the best use of extremely limited leisure time. Finally,
Speaker 1: while twelve to thirteen hour days on their own might
Speaker 1: feel doable, I suspect our listeners commute is what's really
Speaker 1: making this schedule feel unsustainable, So is there anything to
Speaker 1: be done about it? If she's renting, she should look
Speaker 1: into different options when her lease is up, even if
Speaker 1: it means something smaller or with roommates. If she owns
Speaker 1: her place, she should consider renting it out and moving elsewhere,
Speaker 1: or putting her home on the market. Cutting a seventy
Speaker 1: minute drive down to thirty minutes each way would open
Speaker 1: up eighty minutes daily in her life. This would be
Speaker 1: a huge change that might sometimes make it possible to
Speaker 1: meet a friend for dinner or a drink during the week,
Speaker 1: or at least to score some downtime before going to bed.
Speaker 1: What advice do you have for our listener working long hours?
Speaker 1: You can let us know at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
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