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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 that there will always be emails, so don't

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Speaker 1: spend all your time dealing with emails or clearing the

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Speaker 1: decks in general. Instead, set your sales and get going

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Speaker 1: in the direction of your goals, regardless of what still

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Speaker 1: theoretically needs to get done. Today's tip, like another this week,

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Speaker 1: comes from Oliver Berkman, who is the author of four

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Speaker 1: Thousand Weeks. Berkman was a guest on Laurie Santos's podcast

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Speaker 1: The Happiness Lab, where he noted that we are never

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Speaker 1: going to be able to do things as perfectly as

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Speaker 1: we can imagine them, always going to be too much

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Speaker 1: to do. Perhaps it might be wise to admit that, and,

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Speaker 1: as he put it, develop the willingness to act and

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Speaker 1: to really do the stuff that matters. Berkman points out

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Speaker 1: that there is always more that feels like it needs

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Speaker 1: to be done than we can do, an observation that's

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Speaker 1: not new to anyone listening to this podcast, but Berkman's

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Speaker 1: insight is what comes next. He says that if you

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Speaker 1: assume you're going to deal with all the things you

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Speaker 1: think you need to do first and then get to

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Speaker 1: the good stuff. You are going to end up spending

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Speaker 1: your whole life clearing the decks and never getting there.

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Speaker 1: He continues. The skill we're trying to develop is the

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Speaker 1: willingness to act on the most important things now, even

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Speaker 1: though the decks are not clear. The underlying point here,

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Speaker 1: he says, is there isn't this moment coming later when

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Speaker 1: you're going to have all the time for the things

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Speaker 1: that matter, and so on some level, you have to

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Speaker 1: claim that time in the present instead. I think this

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Speaker 1: is wise. I have long advised against clearing the decks

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Speaker 1: before you get to your real work. Fundamentally, the decks

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Speaker 1: will never be clear. Instead, you can choose to get

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Speaker 1: to your real work now. So if you find yourself

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Speaker 1: perpetually drawn into email, slack teams, texts, the news, and

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Speaker 1: the administrative work that we feel we have to get

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Speaker 1: done to keep everything running, check your assumptions. Don't assume

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Speaker 1: that you need to clear the decks, or that doing

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Speaker 1: so is even possible. Do what matters most now. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: even while the decks aren't completely clear, there will always

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Speaker 1: be emails. Could be a helpful phrase to say to

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Speaker 1: yourself whenever you think that you don't have time to

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Speaker 1: reach out to that new client because your inbox is

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Speaker 1: a mess. Or write that novel because your inbox is

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Speaker 1: a mess. Or be present with a loved one, or

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Speaker 1: look at the sunset. Remind yourself that there will always

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Speaker 1: be emails. There will be emails if you don't look

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Speaker 1: at the sunset, and there will be emails if you do.

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Speaker 1: Probably you will be happier if you take a moment

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Speaker 1: to take the world in. When we embrace this truth,

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Speaker 1: we stop trying to clear the decks for some illusory

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Speaker 1: time in the future. Life won't be calm next week.

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Speaker 1: Possibly it won't be calm next year. If there is

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Speaker 1: something you would like to do, best to get going

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Speaker 1: in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

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Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts

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Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows,