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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to try not to give yourself homework. There

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Speaker 1: are ways to lighten the burden on future you while

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Speaker 1: still being a team player if you are strategic about it.

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Speaker 1: So I am sure many of us have had this experience.

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Speaker 1: In a meeting, someone asks you to send them a document.

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Speaker 1: You write down a note to yourself to do this.

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Speaker 1: Of course, your day is jam packed, so you don't

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Speaker 1: wind up getting around to executing on all these little

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Speaker 1: meeting follow ups until six pm or later, when you'd

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Speaker 1: like to be on your way home. Or maybe you

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Speaker 1: agree to an informational meeting with someone and agree to

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Speaker 1: help out, and then spend time afterwards sending lots of

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Speaker 1: introductory emails and information, only to find out that the

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Speaker 1: person hasn't used all of this. We want to be

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Speaker 1: team players, but there are ways to make being a

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Speaker 1: team player easier on ourselves. First, if you are asked

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Speaker 1: to fulfill a quick request and you are comfortable doing so,

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Speaker 1: do it right then. So, for instance, if you are

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Speaker 1: asked during a meeting to send the colleagues the agenda

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Speaker 1: from last year's annual meeting. Just find it and do it.

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Speaker 1: If someone wants to know the status of the department budget,

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Speaker 1: don't say you'll send a note later. Send a message

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Speaker 1: to the finance office during the meeting. They may reply

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Speaker 1: during the meeting so that you can report the answer,

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Speaker 1: but even if they don't, at least you will have

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Speaker 1: made the request, so the ball well is in someone

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Speaker 1: else's court at least for a while. Now. If you

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Speaker 1: are sitting with eight people in a conference room, this

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Speaker 1: only works for quick requests. You are probably not going

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Speaker 1: to pause everything for several minutes so you can do something.

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Speaker 1: But if you are meeting individually with a direct report,

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Speaker 1: or perhaps someone who is a little less tightly scheduled

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Speaker 1: than you are, you could even fulfill more extensive requests

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Speaker 1: right then. For example, if you are meeting with a

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Speaker 1: person who is interested in your industry and they ask

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Speaker 1: for recommendations of professional associations and publications, go ahead and

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Speaker 1: find that information, even if it requires a little googling

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Speaker 1: to get the names right. Don't find yourself writing a

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Speaker 1: lengthy email about the shape of the field at night

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Speaker 1: after your kids go to bed. If your direct report

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Speaker 1: has a document they want you to review, review it

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Speaker 1: during your check in time. That way, they get the

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Speaker 1: feedback as soon as possible. You can talk through any

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Speaker 1: areas of confusion rather than emailing back and forth. This

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Speaker 1: is really a win for both of you, and there

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Speaker 1: is no homework for you after the meeting. Another way

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Speaker 1: to avoid giving yourself homework is to make sure the

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Speaker 1: other person can take the next step independently. For example,

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Speaker 1: if you are talking with your neighbor and she asks

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Speaker 1: for the name of that karate studio you joined, tell

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Speaker 1: her the name and have her email it to herself.

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Speaker 1: You don't need to promise to send the link later

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Speaker 1: and take the risk of forgetting. You might also consider

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Speaker 1: leaving the ball in the other person's court to decide

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Speaker 1: on their own time whether they would like you to

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Speaker 1: follow up on anything. That way, you won't be spending

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Speaker 1: time following up on something that the other person may

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Speaker 1: not actually be all that interested in. For instance, you

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Speaker 1: might say, if after you look into this, you decide

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Speaker 1: that you'd like me to send you more information on

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Speaker 1: one or two of the groups I mentioned, let me

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Speaker 1: know and I'll be glad to do it. You may

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Speaker 1: have homework later, but only if the other person would

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Speaker 1: actually appreciate it, if they forget about it or decide

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Speaker 1: it wouldn't be helpful after initial research themselves, there is

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Speaker 1: nothing more for you to do. Of course, sometimes you

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Speaker 1: might not be sure you want to fulfill a request.

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Speaker 1: You might want to buy yourself time to think about it,

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Speaker 1: and that's fine. Giving yourself homework is better than doing

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Speaker 1: something hasty that you will regret. But when you probably

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Speaker 1: are going to do something like send your cop that

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Speaker 1: old report, then don't let that task make it onto

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Speaker 1: your to do list. Do it right away and feel

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Speaker 1: as free as a kid who got her homework done

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Speaker 1: during study hall. No need to break open the books.

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Speaker 1: It can be video games all night 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. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.