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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to put big dreams first in your schedule.

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Speaker 1: If you leave speculative career building work to the end

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Speaker 1: of your to do list, well you probably won't get

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Speaker 1: to it. Do it first and it will get done.

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Speaker 1: Many people have some sort of big project on their

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Speaker 1: bucket lists, like writing a novel or a book, starting

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Speaker 1: a podcast, composing music. Maybe it's writing that white paper

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Speaker 1: that will establish you as a thought leader, or writing

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Speaker 1: a grant for a big research project that's a little

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Speaker 1: different from your usual fare. These things never have to happen. Indeed,

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Speaker 1: you could go through your life not doing them, and

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Speaker 1: so consequently, since there are no deadlines and no one

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Speaker 1: waiting on you to do these things, they are easy

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Speaker 1: to put off. That is doubly true, since they could

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Speaker 1: be challenging and uncertain. You could do all that work

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Speaker 1: and then have them not pan out. Of course, even

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Speaker 1: if we're busy, we do want to give a nod

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Speaker 1: to our ambitions. So what usually happens is that people

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Speaker 1: put these big speculative projects on their to do lists,

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Speaker 1: but then don't give them a time or give them

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Speaker 1: a bad time, like five pm on Friday. Let me

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Speaker 1: tell you, scheduling something that you do not have to

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Speaker 1: do for the end of day Friday means you won't

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Speaker 1: do it. Either you'll be tired, or all the things

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Speaker 1: you do need to do before the weekend won't be

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Speaker 1: done yet, and you'll still be cranking away on those,

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Speaker 1: and so week after week you'll shove your big speculative

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Speaker 1: project forward. Here's another idea. Put these big dreams on

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Speaker 1: your schedule. First, carve out a big chunk of time

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Speaker 1: Monday morning to tackle your speculative project. If it's the

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Speaker 1: sort of thing you think you need to work on daily,

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Speaker 1: then maybe eight am every day is a good time.

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Speaker 1: Here's why you'll be freshest. The emergencies have yet to arise,

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Speaker 1: and so you're more likely to actually do it. And

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Speaker 1: when you carve out time for things, you make progress,

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Speaker 1: and that progress itself is often motivational enough to nudge

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Speaker 1: you to find more time. Now. Of course, I know

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Speaker 1: you have a job and you have responsibilities. But if

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Speaker 1: you work on something speculative from say seven thirty to

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Speaker 1: nine thirty am on Monday morning, well I am, guessing

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Speaker 1: you're normal job responsibilities will still be waiting for you

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Speaker 1: at am, and because you are a responsible person, you

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Speaker 1: will do them. But in this world, you have also

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Speaker 1: done the thing you didn't have to do alongside your job,

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Speaker 1: rather than just doing your job. Same goes with carving

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Speaker 1: out time every day from say eight to nine am,

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Speaker 1: or if it needs to be earlier than normal work hours,

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Speaker 1: six to seven am, or get up early one day

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Speaker 1: a week, let's say Mondays from five thirty to seven

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Speaker 1: thirty am, and you'll still be putting two more solid

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Speaker 1: hours into your project each week than you were before.

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Speaker 1: Bit by bit, you will move it forward, and with

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Speaker 1: any luck, that forward motion will turn your big project

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Speaker 1: into something slightly less speculative. A major foundation likes your

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Speaker 1: initial pitch and asks for a full proposal. An agent

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Speaker 1: wants to see more pages in that book. That industry

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Speaker 1: website likes your think piece and wants more from you. Well,

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Speaker 1: great accountability. Now you will find time for this stuff

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Speaker 1: during normal hours, because well you've got that nudge. But

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Speaker 1: until that happens, you need to make this accountability yourself.

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Speaker 1: And the best way to have that happen is to

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Speaker 1: schedule this big stuff first. Put big dreams on the

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Speaker 1: calendar first, and the big dreams happen, leave them for

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Speaker 1: the time left over, and well there will be no

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Speaker 1: time left over. It is really as simple as that.

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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. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.