Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about what to do when you're faced
Speaker 1: with suboptimal working conditions. Give yourself a chance to accomplish
Speaker 1: something important before you decide it's not duable. I hear
Speaker 1: all the time from people who wake up early, stay
Speaker 1: at work late, or work at home after their families
Speaker 1: are in bed, because they say that is the only
Speaker 1: time they have for focused work, and I definitely sympathize.
Speaker 1: Whether you work in an office or remotely, you can
Speaker 1: encounter all sorts of suboptimal working conditions. Maybe it's tree
Speaker 1: work in your neighbor's yard or elevator work in your
Speaker 1: office building. Maybe it's children running and screaming through your
Speaker 1: home when they have a random half day off from school,
Speaker 1: or a colleague in a cube near yours whose sighs
Speaker 1: and hums whenever she's not yelling into the phone. Even
Speaker 1: if you've got quiet, your space might feel suboptimal. A
Speaker 1: four hour flight with no kids or colleagues asking questions
Speaker 1: seems ideal for getting a lot done, until you feel
Speaker 1: frustrated by the lack of elbow room on the plane.
Speaker 1: And then there are the moments when your energy and
Speaker 1: mood aren't conducive to deep work. Maybe you're exhausted after
Speaker 1: a sleepless night, or consumed with anxiety about a family issue.
Speaker 1: It's tempting to assume that all you'll be able to
Speaker 1: do is delete email, but the truth is that we
Speaker 1: seldom get perfect conditions. So even if conditions aren't ideal,
Speaker 1: give yourself a chance to do something meaningful before you
Speaker 1: decide it's impossible. A chance doesn't need to me forever.
Speaker 1: It just means that a chance. Maybe you commit to
Speaker 1: working for fifteen minutes on your computer on the plane
Speaker 1: before you give up and read a magazine. Or you
Speaker 1: might commit to twenty minutes of creative writing while you're
Speaker 1: at your daughter's basketball practice before peeking at Instagram. You
Speaker 1: might put in ear plugs and do your best to
Speaker 1: get absorbed in a graphic design project while roadwork is
Speaker 1: happening outside your window, before you call it a day
Speaker 1: for deep work and start preparing invoices. When you commit
Speaker 1: to a few minutes of honestly trying to do something deep,
Speaker 1: even in less than ideal conditions, you'll sometimes find it's
Speaker 1: more doable than you assumed. Often getting started is the
Speaker 1: hardest part. Once you're in the flow, you may decide
Speaker 1: to continue with what you're doing even after the committed
Speaker 1: time is over. What could have been mindlessly past time
Speaker 1: ends up being productive or even enjoyable. And if, after
Speaker 1: a real attempt, you decide that it's just not happening,
Speaker 1: then you can shift to something less intense, guilt free,
Speaker 1: without wondering what else you could have been doing. You've
Speaker 1: given yourself a chance and sometimes that's good enough. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in te Uch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Yeah.