1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My Heart Radio. 2 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to revisit your old work. If you 4 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: have any past work products, or projects, take a little 5 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: time to review them. You might get some ideas for 6 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: new projects or insights into your life in general. I 7 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: have been unpacking boxes of books lately, yes, more than 8 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: a year after moving into this house, and at least 9 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: some of those books have been my own. So I 10 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: have taken a few minutes to read what I wrote 11 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: in the past, and not all of it is amazing. 12 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: Some things I might put differently now, but sometimes I 13 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: still smile at a turn phrase. And while some topics 14 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: don't seem nearly as pressing as they did a decade 15 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: or more ago, some things are still relevant. That last 16 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: truth has meant that I found some new ideas for 17 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: newsletters and blog posts and podcasts taking bits of my 18 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: old work and reinterpreting them for today. I suppose it 19 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,479 Speaker 1: is modestly more apparent how this would work with say, 20 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: old books versus other types of work. But I do 21 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 1: think that many of us are sitting on a great 22 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: many things that could be repurposed or reinterpreted. Doing so 23 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: could liven up your current work. For instance, maybe you 24 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: have written some professional articles or posts for your organization's website. 25 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: If you read through these, is there anything that might 26 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: be reusable now? Or perhaps see worked on a project 27 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: you rather enjoyed for a large client a few years ago. 28 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: If you revisit your notes or presentations now, does anything 29 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: stand out as relevant to current problems. If you approach 30 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: your past work with an open mind, all sorts of 31 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: connections might present themselves. For instance, I often see I 32 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: interviewed someone interesting who I haven't thought of in a while. 33 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: This provides a nudge to reach out. Maybe you note 34 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: a colleague who you mentioned in your notes who has 35 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: since moved on to a different job. What a great 36 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: reason to reach out and see what's going on. I'm 37 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: guessing at least a phone call or a lunch or 38 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: something will arise out of this and lead to some 39 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: interesting possibilities in the future. Or perhaps someone mentioned a 40 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: resource like a video or a book that you couldn't 41 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: check out at the time. Maybe now you've got a 42 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: little more capacity so you can Or someone came up 43 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: with an idea for a new kind of project you 44 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: could do but you never pursued it. Maybe there is 45 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: a germ of an idea in there that you could 46 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: pitch to a new client. It's really hard to know 47 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: what you'll find, but our past work represents what our 48 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: past selves spent a lot of time thinking about. If 49 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: you are a hard working creative person, now most likely 50 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: you were a hard working and creative person. Then we 51 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: tend to move on from things once we finish them, 52 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: but ideas might have a longer shelf life than we 53 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: give them, and pieces from one thing can often be 54 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: used for something else. So today, go find the files 55 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: and results from some past project. Spend a few minutes 56 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: looking through them. See what memories come up, what people 57 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: you think of, what ideas come to mind. Maybe nothing happens, 58 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: in which case you've only spent a few minutes on this, 59 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: the equivalent of a random email check that didn't have 60 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: to happen. Or maybe you will come up with something brilliant, 61 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: in which case this was time well spent. In the meantime, 62 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:37,159 Speaker 1: this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making 63 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to 64 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions, 65 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, 66 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b E the 67 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also 68 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia 69 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all 70 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying 71 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. 72 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 73 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 74 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.