1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: tip is to plan for depletion. At some point in 4 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: your life, you start to realize that certain activities are 5 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: always going to exhaust you. When you know that, you 6 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: can be sure to plan in some downtime afterwards, or 7 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 1: you may wind up even more exhausted or not following 8 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: through on your commitments. I do a lot of public speaking, 9 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: and when I go to an event, it is very 10 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: clear to me that I have done something. I've been 11 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: up on stage. I've often talked with people or signed 12 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: books afterwards. Then I tend to go to the airport 13 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: and fly home. I do some light work on the plane, 14 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: but I generally know that I'll be tired, and since 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: I'm unavailable on the plane anyway, I'm not trying to 16 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 1: set meetings shortly after a speech. Virtual speaking, on the 17 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: other hand, is different. Theoretically, I am just in my 18 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: little recording studio speaking into my laptop. I don't have 19 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: to fly anywhere afterwards, so I could just schedule other 20 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 1: calls or meetings right afterwards. But when I first started 21 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: speaking virtually during COVID. I did so, but I quickly 22 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: realized that a virtual speech takes a lot of energy 23 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: to Even if I'm on a screen, i am still performing. 24 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: I probably need to take a short breather after a 25 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: virtual speech, too, even if I don't have to hop 26 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: in a cab headed toward the airport. So I've gotten 27 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: better about not scheduling anything for the hour or maybe 28 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: even two after a speech. The other day, when I 29 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: did a virtual event, I let myself put her around 30 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: the house for about ninety minutes. Afterward, I made rice, 31 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: putting out of some leftover rice, and read the newspaper. 32 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: It was nice and wasn't really any different productivity wise 33 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: than reading a magazine on a plane. If you too 34 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: have things that take a lot of energy, you might 35 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: want to structure your schedule to allow for that. I know. 36 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: My co host on Best of Both Worlds, doctor Sarah Hartunger, 37 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: has talked about her call weeks being very intense. She's 38 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: often up in the night answering questions and directing care 39 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,799 Speaker 1: plans for very sick children, so she's been trying to 40 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: keep the day or two after her call week's lighter. 41 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: This is challenging, as all the other things she didn't 42 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: get to when she was on call stack up. But 43 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: she knows she'll be exhausted. Best to plan life with 44 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: that in mind. Even if it's not possible to take 45 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: a lot of downtime, it's still worth scanning your schedule 46 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: in advance so you can spot activities that will take 47 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: a lot of energy. Then you can proactively plan in 48 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: at least something that will boost your energy levels. For instance, 49 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: if you're going to have to give tough feedback to someone, 50 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: maybe you can plan in a ten minute break to 51 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: go to for a walk to clear your head. If 52 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: you're going to be presenting to someone who is always critical, 53 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: maybe you can plan to take a slightly longer lunch 54 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: break and go to a favorite restaurant. In any case, 55 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: we aren't machines, and even machines often need scheduled maintenance 56 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: if they've had to run harder than usual. So if 57 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: you know you will be depleted, figure out what you 58 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: can do to take care of yourself. That way, you 59 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: will be your energetic chip yourself soon enough, and you 60 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: can keep going with all the amazing things that you're 61 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: doing in the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening. 62 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: And here's making the most of our time. Thanks for 63 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, 64 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. 65 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts 66 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 67 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.