WEBVTT - How to amortize time

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about how to amortize time. We only

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<v Speaker 1>get twenty four hours a day, but it might be

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<v Speaker 1>possible to spread out a time debt over a more

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<v Speaker 1>reasonable period of time. Today's tip comes from my friend

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<v Speaker 1>Catherine Lewis, who is a freelance journalist, author, and conference organizer.

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<v Speaker 1>She is usually juggling several projects. She told me that

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<v Speaker 1>she knew she would be getting a project back to

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<v Speaker 1>her in the next month or two, and when she did,

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<v Speaker 1>it would immediately take several days to deal with. The problem,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, is that how on earth can you build

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<v Speaker 1>an open four days into a busy life when you

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<v Speaker 1>don't know exactly in that time payment will come do

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<v Speaker 1>But as we were talking about this, I realized that

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<v Speaker 1>there are some interesting parallels to money, both in this

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<v Speaker 1>scenario and in how she was dealing with it. When

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<v Speaker 1>it comes to money, many people wind up with large

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<v Speaker 1>expenses that we take on at times we wouldn't necessarily

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<v Speaker 1>have that much cash sitting there. It is great to

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<v Speaker 1>pay cash for a car, but if that is not

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<v Speaker 1>going to happen, it is usually possible to borrow the

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<v Speaker 1>money and pay it off in smaller regular chunks over

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<v Speaker 1>a period of say three years, same with buying business

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<v Speaker 1>equipment or property amortized over a longer period of time.

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<v Speaker 1>It turned out that Catherine was doing something similar, basically

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<v Speaker 1>amortizing her upcoming time debt. She told me that she

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<v Speaker 1>was blocking off three hours every Friday for her big project.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, the project itself was going to take longer

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<v Speaker 1>than three hours, but she had been doing this for

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<v Speaker 1>a month from the very beginning of knowing it was

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<v Speaker 1>going to come back. At some point. When the project

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<v Speaker 1>didn't land back in her lap on a given week,

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<v Speaker 1>she would use those three hours to work ahead unknown

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<v Speaker 1>future projects. This in turn would give her lighter weeks

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<v Speaker 1>in the future, so as the likelihood of the project

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<v Speaker 1>landing on any specific week increased, she was in fact

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<v Speaker 1>getting later weeks in terms of her other workload. When

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<v Speaker 1>the project did finally land, it was still going to

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<v Speaker 1>require some scrambling, but not nearly as much scrambling as

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<v Speaker 1>it would have if she hadn't been using that weekly

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<v Speaker 1>three hour chunk of time. A four day time dead,

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<v Speaker 1>say thirty two working hours could theoretically be paid off

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<v Speaker 1>in about ten weeks of three hour chunks if you

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<v Speaker 1>are careful about how you organize your workload and have

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<v Speaker 1>things you could do ahead of time. Now, I know

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<v Speaker 1>not all work works like this, but I still think

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<v Speaker 1>this is worth thinking about. If your work, or any

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<v Speaker 1>other things you do, tends to fluctuate in terms of business,

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<v Speaker 1>when you know the scope of your future time debts,

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<v Speaker 1>you can make plans to pay off those debts in

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<v Speaker 1>more reasonable chunks that might make life feel more calm.

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<v Speaker 1>So today, think about what future time debts might be

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<v Speaker 1>waiting for you. Will a big project need a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of work at some future time? What can you do

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<v Speaker 1>now to make those future weeks less full so you

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<v Speaker 1>have the space to deal with it. You can do

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<v Speaker 1>this in your personal life too, carving out time for

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<v Speaker 1>planning vacations or thinking about the holidays far ahead of time.

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<v Speaker 1>You are moving some of that work out of weeks

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<v Speaker 1>that might be busier. You are amortizing time. I mean

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<v Speaker 1>not really, but to a degree. Time isn't exactly like money,

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<v Speaker 1>but sometimes when we think of it that way, we

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<v Speaker 1>can make smart choices in the meantime. This is Laura,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com

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<v Speaker 1>so should. I look forward to staying in touch. Before

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