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 to build in decompression time. By consciously
Speaker 1: building small breaks in between stressful events and knowing that
Speaker 1: these breaks are for decompression, you can be at your
Speaker 1: best even through a rigorous schedule. As we go through
Speaker 1: our daily lives, we can see that some events are
Speaker 1: more draining than others. We can enjoy them a lot
Speaker 1: to or at least find them satisfying. But an intense
Speaker 1: meeting is going to take more energy than, say, reading
Speaker 1: a random newspaper article. Giving a speech will take more
Speaker 1: energy than a quick phone call with someone you've known
Speaker 1: for a while. That's just life. But problems arise when
Speaker 1: we try to cram too many intense events back to back.
Speaker 1: Go straight from a speech into an intense meeting, and
Speaker 1: you might be making mistakes or getting annoyed by a
Speaker 1: vague response that you would have taken in stride at
Speaker 1: any other point. Too much intensity back to back in
Speaker 1: our personal lives can lead to the same problem. The
Speaker 1: solution build in decompression time. This doesn't have to be long,
Speaker 1: but you need some small way to reset between intense events.
Speaker 1: Even just ten minutes can do a lot. Makes sense, right,
Speaker 1: But there is a second part to this. You have
Speaker 1: to know that those ten minutes are for decompression and
Speaker 1: use them appropriately. You have to do something that you
Speaker 1: know is going to allow you to hit the reset button. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, last night, I had been running around trying
Speaker 1: to get some forms signed and emailed back to people.
Speaker 1: Right after putting my toddler to bed, I knew I
Speaker 1: was about to face the next round of bedtimes, so
Speaker 1: I went out on the porch for five minutes to
Speaker 1: look at the sunset. It was beautiful. I did not
Speaker 1: take my phone with me, so I could just let
Speaker 1: my mind wander. This did the trick much better than say,
Speaker 1: deleting emails, when I would have risked seeing something intense
Speaker 1: and winding right back into intense mode. I've tried to
Speaker 1: talk about this with my kids as well. One child
Speaker 1: has camp until four pm, coming home around four, and
Speaker 1: then needs to leave for an activity twice a week.
Speaker 1: At He noted that this felt like a long day,
Speaker 1: and it's somewhat is, but I pointed out that four
Speaker 1: fifteen to five would be completely off if he consciously
Speaker 1: you this hour as decompression time, reading, drawing, hanging out
Speaker 1: in the backyard. He'd be much more energized by an hour.
Speaker 1: Isn't really a short time at all, especially when you
Speaker 1: know you've got an hour. Of course, creating space for
Speaker 1: decompression in life is easier said than done. One reason
Speaker 1: to make meetings forty five minutes or twenty minutes instead
Speaker 1: of sixty minutes or thirty minutes is that you get
Speaker 1: this time built in even if the meeting starts a
Speaker 1: little late or runs a little long. And of course,
Speaker 1: if you are running the meeting, you can make sure
Speaker 1: it starts on time and ends on time. You listen
Speaker 1: to this podcast so I know you are an expert
Speaker 1: on that. Instead of immediately diving into your inbox during
Speaker 1: this break, go stroll around the building in the eight
Speaker 1: minutes until your next meeting starts. When you consciously use
Speaker 1: this time as decompression time, it can feel pleasingly vast
Speaker 1: rather than short. You can feel yourself relaxing. This is
Speaker 1: a good thing. So today, think about your schedule and
Speaker 1: think about when you've got your most intense events. See
Speaker 1: what kind of space you have between them. If there
Speaker 1: isn't much what could you do to force in a
Speaker 1: few more minutes, And if you build in those minutes,
Speaker 1: what could you do during them to hit reset? Figure
Speaker 1: this out and you will perform at your best even
Speaker 1: if your schedule is tough 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 tip, 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 the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart 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.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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