WEBVTT - How many hours should you work?

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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 the best way to allocate your

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<v Speaker 1>work hours so you don't have to work around the clock.

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<v Speaker 1>I recently got a letter from a Before Breakfast listener

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<v Speaker 1>who had listened to this split Shift episode. That episode

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<v Speaker 1>looked at strategies for preserving family and personal time if

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<v Speaker 1>you needed to work long hours. This listener wondered about

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<v Speaker 1>the right length for a work week. She worked her

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<v Speaker 1>forty hours, she wrote, which is a normal full time job,

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<v Speaker 1>but she was hearing on this podcast of people wanting

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<v Speaker 1>to work fifty or sixty hour weeks. She wondered if

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<v Speaker 1>this was common and if working long hours was necessary

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<v Speaker 1>for success. This listener noted that she was protective of

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<v Speaker 1>her personal life and didn't want to work at night

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<v Speaker 1>or weekends, but she wondered if those barriers made her

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<v Speaker 1>seem like a bad worker. Well as someone who works

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<v Speaker 1>about forty hours a week as my long term average,

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<v Speaker 1>I certainly hope that doesn't make us seem like bad workers.

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<v Speaker 1>I do think it's possible to do a lot in

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<v Speaker 1>forty hours a week. The key is being very strategic.

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<v Speaker 1>That's because success isn't about just doing the work in

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<v Speaker 1>front of you. You have to build your skills, you

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<v Speaker 1>have to dream up future projects, you have to build

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<v Speaker 1>your career capital. All this takes time, they're The good

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<v Speaker 1>news is that it doesn't take an infinite amount of time.

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<v Speaker 1>In a well planned work week, you can find space

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<v Speaker 1>for all of it. Since I've seen thousands of time

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<v Speaker 1>logs over the years, I've learned that many successful people

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<v Speaker 1>do not work around the clock. Indeed, work hours by

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<v Speaker 1>themselves often have nothing to do with how important you are.

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<v Speaker 1>I was reminded of this when inc Magazine had me

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<v Speaker 1>study the schedules of several high profile entrepreneurs on a

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<v Speaker 1>single day in November. Since I tracked my time, I

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<v Speaker 1>also knew how I spent that day in November of

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<v Speaker 1>And guess what, I wound up working more hours on

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<v Speaker 1>that day than most of these famous successful people. I

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<v Speaker 1>can tell you for sure that the demand from my

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<v Speaker 1>time is not as high as the demand for their time.

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<v Speaker 1>Work hours are not a sign of how important you are. Indeed,

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<v Speaker 1>we have data that CEOs in general don't work around

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<v Speaker 1>the clock. In a future episode, I'll talk more about

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<v Speaker 1>a large CEO time diary study, but for the purposes

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<v Speaker 1>of this episode, this particular study found that the average

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<v Speaker 1>work week for these people was about sixty hours. It

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't a hundred hours a week. I also find that

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<v Speaker 1>different people work in different ways. I recently finished reading

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<v Speaker 1>Mason Curry's new book about the daily rituals of women artists.

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<v Speaker 1>He also wrote another book a few years ago that

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<v Speaker 1>covered the daily rituals of famous men and women. Some

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<v Speaker 1>of these successful creative sorts worked long, strange hours. I

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<v Speaker 1>guess we all love tales of that sculptor who works

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<v Speaker 1>best at two am, but others had much more normal routines.

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<v Speaker 1>A common one might be to go to the studio

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<v Speaker 1>or office from eight am to noon and do intense

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<v Speaker 1>creative work after a lunch break. Research, emails, meetings, and

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<v Speaker 1>phone calls might consume one to five pm or so.

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<v Speaker 1>That's eight hours a day, but spent wisely, it can

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<v Speaker 1>be enough. The key is being intentional. Planning a strategic

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<v Speaker 1>forty hour work week means knowing what you intend to

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<v Speaker 1>accomplish and leaving plenty of space for stuff to come up.

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<v Speaker 1>A smart work week requires doing the stuff of your

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<v Speaker 1>job of course, just like an artist planting herself in

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<v Speaker 1>her studio from eight to twelve each day to work

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<v Speaker 1>on her commissions would do. Then there will likely be

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<v Speaker 1>administrative tasks. If you reach a certain point, you can

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<v Speaker 1>delegate some of this, but it's hard to get that

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<v Speaker 1>down to zero. Then there's the stuff you do as

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<v Speaker 1>race car driver. Sarah Fisher once put it in an interview,

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<v Speaker 1>that increases our exposure and broadens our scope. I really

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<v Speaker 1>love this phrase because it neatly sums up the idea

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<v Speaker 1>of building career capital. Part of broadening one's scope means

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<v Speaker 1>practicing skills. One reason I still blog multiple times per week,

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<v Speaker 1>even though no one's paying me to do it, is

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<v Speaker 1>that it's a great way to hone my writing technique.

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<v Speaker 1>I practice making arguments, I practice telling stories, and I

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<v Speaker 1>see what people like and what they don't or what

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<v Speaker 1>they ignore. Broadening your scope can also mean taking on

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<v Speaker 1>speculative work. You try something new even though you don't

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<v Speaker 1>know what will come of it, because you think it

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<v Speaker 1>might lead to big things in the future. You spend

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<v Speaker 1>time thinking of new ideas and seeing what's out there

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<v Speaker 1>that other people are doing that you could augment or

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<v Speaker 1>iterate on. In some way. As for increasing your exposure,

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<v Speaker 1>this is yet another way to think of networking. How

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<v Speaker 1>can you share your ideas with an ever expanding, ever

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<v Speaker 1>more influential audience. You can get to know people one

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<v Speaker 1>on one and through mass channels like being a guest

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<v Speaker 1>on a podcast or giving a talk at an industry conference.

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<v Speaker 1>All these things are necessary for long term success. Some

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<v Speaker 1>hours are just spent and done, but hours spent increasing

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<v Speaker 1>your exposure and broadening your scope our investments. They have

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<v Speaker 1>a long term payoff in terms of advancing your career.

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<v Speaker 1>These things also take time, of course, they don't need

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<v Speaker 1>to take a ton of time. If you faithfully split

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<v Speaker 1>ten hours per week among various skill building, speculative and

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<v Speaker 1>networking activities, you would build a ton of career capital.

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<v Speaker 1>If you can make space for those ten hours within

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<v Speaker 1>a normal work week, then sure you can conquer the

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<v Speaker 1>world working from nine to five. If you don't make

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<v Speaker 1>space for these things, though, then it's going to be

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<v Speaker 1>a lot harder. It's not about the hours themselves, it's

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<v Speaker 1>about how you spend them. And if you don't have

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<v Speaker 1>the flexibility to be able to use normal working hours

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<v Speaker 1>for these time investments, then you might have to do

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<v Speaker 1>them on top of your normal job, and that's when

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<v Speaker 1>the hours start stacking up. But even so, they don't

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<v Speaker 1>have to stack up too far. If you could do

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<v Speaker 1>your normal work in thirty five to forty hours a week,

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<v Speaker 1>then ten additional hours of career capital work just takes

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<v Speaker 1>us to forty five to fifty hours. This is still

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<v Speaker 1>pretty reasonable. There are a hundred sixty eight hours in

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<v Speaker 1>a week. If you work fifty and sleep eight hours

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<v Speaker 1>a night or fifty six hours per week, this still

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<v Speaker 1>leaves sixty two hours for other things. So take some

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<v Speaker 1>time today and think about where you could find space

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<v Speaker 1>in your professional schedule for ten hours a week or

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<v Speaker 1>two hours a day to increase your exposure and broaden

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<v Speaker 1>your scope. Over time, these career building hours can transform

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<v Speaker 1>how you spend every other hour at work, whether that's

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<v Speaker 1>thirty hours, forty hours a week, or whatever number works

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<v Speaker 1>for you. In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening,

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<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

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<v Speaker 1>That's b E. The number four then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at before Breakfast

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

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<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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<v Speaker 1>my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>Get