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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is for when life seems extraordinarily difficult, give

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Speaker 1: yourself the gift of tracking your time. There is a

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Speaker 1: good chance that your discoveries will reveal steps that can

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Speaker 1: make life better. I know I sound like a broken

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Speaker 1: record when it comes to tracking time. Everyone should try

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Speaker 1: tracking time for at least a week. We can learn

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Speaker 1: so much from figuring out where the time really goes.

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Speaker 1: So please bear with me on this one because I

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Speaker 1: learned yet another reason for tracking time recently that I

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Speaker 1: suspect will help at least a few listeners of this podcast.

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Speaker 1: A Before Breakfast listener wrote to me that she had

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Speaker 1: tracked her time a few years ago after I suggested it.

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Speaker 1: Her life revealed the usual business of a full time

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Speaker 1: job and lots of little kids. Nothing was easy, but

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Speaker 1: she was making life work. Then this past spring, she

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Speaker 1: started feeling like everything was falling apart. She wasn't getting

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Speaker 1: done what she wanted to get done, and this was

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Speaker 1: having all sorts of negative ramifications for her life. So

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Speaker 1: she decided to track her time again. This time, her

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Speaker 1: time log showed that she was losing an hour a

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Speaker 1: day to uncontrolled anxiety. She told me in her note

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Speaker 1: that she was so annoyed by this loss of productivity

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Speaker 1: that she sought help from her doctor and then from

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Speaker 1: a therapist as well. They of course pointed out that

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Speaker 1: this change from one time log to the next indicated

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Speaker 1: some serious mental health concerns, ones that she could get traded.

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Speaker 1: As she told me, until I could compare my time

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Speaker 1: too previous time spreadsheets, I didn't know how in need

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Speaker 1: of help I was. I wanted to share this story

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Speaker 1: because many health challenges show up and how we spend

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Speaker 1: our time. Many issues don't have a clear onset, and

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Speaker 1: since we keep living our lives trudging along, we don't

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Speaker 1: necessarily know what's normal and what's not. Time logs can

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Speaker 1: give us data to show long term changes and what

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Speaker 1: might be farther outside the range of normal then we

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Speaker 1: might have thought. For instance, if you have been feeling

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Speaker 1: irritated and unmotivated, you might think the problem is with

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Speaker 1: your job, and maybe it is, But what if you

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Speaker 1: track your time and see that your sleep is incredibly disordered,

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Speaker 1: way too short on one night and crashing on the

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Speaker 1: couch at eight PM the next with multiple middle of

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Speaker 1: the night wake ups. And what if you have a

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Speaker 1: log from two years ago that shows very few of

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Speaker 1: these issues. That's some important data to analyze with a

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Speaker 1: healthcare professional to see if you've developed a sleep disorder

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Speaker 1: that needs to be treated. When you get help with that,

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Speaker 1: you might see that your job is fine, or maybe

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Speaker 1: it isn't and you can deal with it, but the

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Speaker 1: sleep should be dealt with regardless. A time log can

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Speaker 1: also show a lack of energy, which is especially important

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Speaker 1: if this has changed over time. If you used to

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Speaker 1: have lots of social time and now you don't, that's

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Speaker 1: important to note too. Do you just have different priorities,

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Speaker 1: concerns about the pandemic, or are you feeling withdrawn? Seeing

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Speaker 1: data on this change can help you analyze what's really happening.

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Speaker 1: In any case, it helps to have a baseline, so

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Speaker 1: if life feels reasonable right now, do your future self

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Speaker 1: the favor of tracking your time for a week. Think

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Speaker 1: of it as preventative health care, like getting a baseline

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Speaker 1: mamogram or blood pressure reading. That way, in the future,

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Speaker 1: if something changes significantly, you will know for sure that

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Speaker 1: it has changed and you can decide what to do

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Speaker 1: about it, and if you're in a trying time now,

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Speaker 1: Even if you don't have a past time log, I'd

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Speaker 1: encourage you to try tracking your time anyway. This data

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Speaker 1: will be helpful for anyone who's trying to help you,

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Speaker 1: a doctor, a therapist, or anyone else. You might not

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Speaker 1: necessarily know what is normal for you, but if you

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Speaker 1: don't feel normal, a professional can tell you if your

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Speaker 1: log is in the range of what he or she

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Speaker 1: is seeing for other people. When you know what is wrong,

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Speaker 1: you can take steps to get better. This Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: listener wrote that tracking her time changed my life for

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Speaker 1: the better. I want the same thing for you as well,

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Speaker 1: so why not start tracking your time today? In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. M Hey, everybody, I'd love

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Speaker 1: to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number

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Speaker 1: four then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot

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Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart

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Speaker 1: media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with

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Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to

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Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

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Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.