Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that hard work is good, but you don't
Speaker 1: have to leave it all on the field. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: wise to put forth a good effort rather than an
Speaker 1: over the top effort. Sustainability is important, and very few
Speaker 1: of us can afford to go through our lives completely spent.
Speaker 1: So I suppose I am a literalist, but I get
Speaker 1: annoyed when people start talking about giving one hundred and
Speaker 1: ten percent. This is impossible, as is the subsequent inflation
Speaker 1: from there, one hundred twenty percent, one hundred and fifty percent, whatever.
Speaker 1: You can only do one hundred percent, And it is
Speaker 1: also not wise to give one hundred percent all the time,
Speaker 1: or even most of the time. Smart people know they
Speaker 1: need to figure out where to give a lot and
Speaker 1: where to do just a decent job. They also recognize
Speaker 1: that even on occasions when you do want to do
Speaker 1: your best, you will likely need to get up and
Speaker 1: do more things the next day, so best to leave
Speaker 1: the field with something for the journey. I was thinking
Speaker 1: of this recently when reflecting on training for a marathon.
Speaker 1: Many years ago. As I was training and figuring out
Speaker 1: what to expect, I was also reading various essays on
Speaker 1: marathon running, generally featuring people waxing eloquent about leaving it
Speaker 1: all on the field as they pushed to the finish.
Speaker 1: Now keep in mind, these weren't people racing for an
Speaker 1: Olympic gold. They were amateur runners, just like the rest
Speaker 1: of us. I have to say I wasn't particularly taken
Speaker 1: with the idea, and I ran my twenty six point
Speaker 1: two miles and finished. But I'm glad I did not
Speaker 1: leave it all on the field because right after my race,
Speaker 1: I immediately needed to nurse a baby who had been
Speaker 1: waiting for me for those several hours. I also needed
Speaker 1: to help care for my kids who were with me
Speaker 1: at this particular destination race. Indeed, the next day, my
Speaker 1: two year old swallowed something he shouldn't have and we
Speaker 1: were at the er for a few hours. It was
Speaker 1: good I did not metaphorically leave it all on the field.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you likewise have a full life with many responsibilities.
Speaker 1: If you have toddlers, it would be irresponsible to leave
Speaker 1: it all on the field during a Saturday morning workout.
Speaker 1: Is your spouse just supposed to be responsible for chasing
Speaker 1: after the kids on their own all day. My guess
Speaker 1: is no, so leave something in the tank. In life,
Speaker 1: sustainability is good. We can certainly push at times, but
Speaker 1: we never want to be truly running unempty, and that
Speaker 1: means being smart about how much effort we put into things.
Speaker 1: There are times when you make care enough to operate
Speaker 1: at ninety five percent or more. There are also probably
Speaker 1: a lot of places in both your personal and professional
Speaker 1: life where sustainability requires a little less than that. We
Speaker 1: can figure out places to go a little less all out.
Speaker 1: For instance, when you see a dropped ball that is
Speaker 1: not your responsibility, you don't have to pick it up.
Speaker 1: See what happens without you. Maybe someone else will step
Speaker 1: in to pick up the dropped ball, or it will
Speaker 1: become apparent that the task wasn't essential after all. Relatedly,
Speaker 1: when someone is needed for a project, you don't have
Speaker 1: to be the first to raise your hand. If you
Speaker 1: are already operating at close to capacity, think of yourself
Speaker 1: as leaving room for someone else to step up. One
Speaker 1: practical way to scale back your efforts is to process
Speaker 1: email less frequently. When you don't respond immediately, may figure
Speaker 1: things out on their own, and even if you are
Speaker 1: still needed, you slow down the pace with which the
Speaker 1: ball comes back into your court. Another strategy is to
Speaker 1: avoid needing to say yes immediately to any new responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Thank the person for thinking of you and let them
Speaker 1: know you'll review your calendar and get back. That gives
Speaker 1: you time to weigh the pros and cons, figure out
Speaker 1: how you can free up time for the new activity,
Speaker 1: or whether you want to some responsibilities you can just
Speaker 1: decide to dial back. You can make a simpler dinner
Speaker 1: meeting minutes can include bulleted highlights rather than an exhaustive
Speaker 1: chronicle of the discussion. There is really no point staying
Speaker 1: up to three am to edit a presentation. It's not
Speaker 1: going to be much better and you will probably perform worse.
Speaker 1: There are very few circumstances when it is necessary or
Speaker 1: wise to totally deplete yourself. You are not an Olympian
Speaker 1: in the finals. You are a person with a full
Speaker 1: life and many days ahead of you, So don't leave
Speaker 1: it all on the field. Leave enough to get through
Speaker 1: the next day so you can go out and do
Speaker 1: it all again. In the meantime. This is Laura, thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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