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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 stop and ask yourself whether you're

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Speaker 1: being productive or active. The latter is often more common

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Speaker 1: than the former, but asking the question can help you

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Speaker 1: get back on track. I'm taking today's tip from a

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast listener who is also named Laura. She wrote

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Speaker 1: in that she found that I'm always active, but productive

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Speaker 1: is another game. You can be doing something without really

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Speaker 1: doing something that matters. So, she says she sets a

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Speaker 1: few alarms through the day to nudge herself to ask

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Speaker 1: the question, Am I being productive or just active? She

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Speaker 1: sets them at noon, four pm, and seven pm. When

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Speaker 1: the alarm goes off, it's time to be honest. It

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Speaker 1: makes me get a wiggle on if I'm putting something off,

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Speaker 1: and also makes me finish work in the evening. Laura

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Speaker 1: writes since because she lives alone, she finds it easy

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Speaker 1: to work until ten pm without thinking. I love this idea.

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Speaker 1: Time passes whether we think about how we're spending it

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Speaker 1: or not, so it's very easy to spend time mindlessly.

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Speaker 1: You know how this goes? You meant to work on

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Speaker 1: a proposal for a big project, but before you start,

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Speaker 1: you check your email, and then you get sucked into

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Speaker 1: a chain about whether you need to meet again about

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Speaker 1: a different project. You answer a quick question from your

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Speaker 1: spouse about an upcoming vacation, and then you check the

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Speaker 1: weather for the weekend, and before you know it, there

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Speaker 1: went the hour that you've carved out to work. You're

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Speaker 1: not actively trying to avoid work, well at least not usually.

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Speaker 1: It's just that time gets away. So how do you

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Speaker 1: keep it from get away? You build a few moments

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Speaker 1: into your schedule to catch it. Force a reckoning. When

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Speaker 1: the alarm goes off, as Laura's does, you look at

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Speaker 1: what you're doing and whether you're doing what you mean

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Speaker 1: to be doing. If you are, great, If not, it's

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Speaker 1: time to course correct before the rest of the day

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Speaker 1: disappears into the same mindlessness. So today, think about when

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Speaker 1: you'd like to ask the question of whether you're being

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Speaker 1: productive or just active. You don't want to distract yourself

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Speaker 1: too much, so no need to set an alarm every

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Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, but just a few moments of mindfulness, like

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Speaker 1: three check ins around mid morning, mid afternoon and quitting

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Speaker 1: time can go along ways. Active is easy. We are

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Speaker 1: always active. A few of us are sitting around doing nothing,

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Speaker 1: but productive is harder, so best to get this right.

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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 show. Whe