Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to revisit your old work. If you
Speaker 1: have any past work products, or projects, take a little
Speaker 1: time to review them. You might get some ideas for
Speaker 1: new projects or insights into your life in general. I
Speaker 1: have been unpacking boxes of books lately, yes, more than
Speaker 1: a year after moving into this house, and at least
Speaker 1: some of those books have been my own. So I
Speaker 1: have taken a few minutes to read what I wrote
Speaker 1: in the past, and not all of it is amazing.
Speaker 1: Some things I might put differently now, but sometimes I
Speaker 1: still smile at a turn phrase. And while some topics
Speaker 1: don't seem nearly as pressing as they did a decade
Speaker 1: or more ago, some things are still relevant. That last
Speaker 1: truth has meant that I found some new ideas for
Speaker 1: newsletters and blog posts and podcasts taking bits of my
Speaker 1: old work and reinterpreting them for today. I suppose it
Speaker 1: is modestly more apparent how this would work with say,
Speaker 1: old books versus other types of work. But I do
Speaker 1: think that many of us are sitting on a great
Speaker 1: many things that could be repurposed or reinterpreted. Doing so
Speaker 1: could liven up your current work. For instance, maybe you
Speaker 1: have written some professional articles or posts for your organization's website.
Speaker 1: If you read through these, is there anything that might
Speaker 1: be reusable now? Or perhaps see worked on a project
Speaker 1: you rather enjoyed for a large client a few years ago.
Speaker 1: If you revisit your notes or presentations now, does anything
Speaker 1: stand out as relevant to current problems. If you approach
Speaker 1: your past work with an open mind, all sorts of
Speaker 1: connections might present themselves. For instance, I often see I
Speaker 1: interviewed someone interesting who I haven't thought of in a while.
Speaker 1: This provides a nudge to reach out. Maybe you note
Speaker 1: a colleague who you mentioned in your notes who has
Speaker 1: since moved on to a different job. What a great
Speaker 1: reason to reach out and see what's going on. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing at least a phone call or a lunch or
Speaker 1: something will arise out of this and lead to some
Speaker 1: interesting possibilities in the future. Or perhaps someone mentioned a
Speaker 1: resource like a video or a book that you couldn't
Speaker 1: check out at the time. Maybe now you've got a
Speaker 1: little more capacity so you can Or someone came up
Speaker 1: with an idea for a new kind of project you
Speaker 1: could do but you never pursued it. Maybe there is
Speaker 1: a germ of an idea in there that you could
Speaker 1: pitch to a new client. It's really hard to know
Speaker 1: what you'll find, but our past work represents what our
Speaker 1: past selves spent a lot of time thinking about. If
Speaker 1: you are a hard working creative person, now most likely
Speaker 1: you were a hard working and creative person. Then we
Speaker 1: tend to move on from things once we finish them,
Speaker 1: but ideas might have a longer shelf life than we
Speaker 1: give them, and pieces from one thing can often be
Speaker 1: used for something else. So today, go find the files
Speaker 1: and results from some past project. Spend a few minutes
Speaker 1: looking through them. See what memories come up, what people
Speaker 1: you think of, what ideas come to mind. Maybe nothing happens,
Speaker 1: in which case you've only spent a few minutes on this,
Speaker 1: the equivalent of a random email check that didn't have
Speaker 1: to happen. Or maybe you will come up with something brilliant,
Speaker 1: in which case this was time well spent. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.