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 how to cope with constantly interrupted
Speaker 1: time and how to manage your energy even if you're
Speaker 1: not trying to get a whole lot of traditional work done.
Speaker 1: This tip stems from a letter I got from a
Speaker 1: listener who lives in India. Her elderly father had been
Speaker 1: admitted to the hospital. Fortunately, he was starting to improve.
Speaker 1: In India, the daughter wrote, it's common for a family
Speaker 1: member to stay over in the hospital with a patient
Speaker 1: to help with his care. That was what she was doing,
Speaker 1: and so she was constantly on call. In the short
Speaker 1: times I do get to myself when he is sleeping.
Speaker 1: Mostly I find myself trying to get other stuff done,
Speaker 1: she says, But for obvious reasons, I keep getting interrupted.
Speaker 1: The stuff I'm doing is not highly intense, paying bills online,
Speaker 1: reorganizing my lists, clearing down inboxes, sometimes just listening to podcasts,
Speaker 1: But even then I find it difficult to progress. So
Speaker 1: she wondered, did I have any advice for dealing with interruptions?
Speaker 1: Getting even small tasks done and feeling efficient is a
Speaker 1: big part of my personal self care and goes a
Speaker 1: long way in making me feel like at least some
Speaker 1: aspects of life are under control in these difficult times.
Speaker 1: She said, so she was looking for ideas. I thought
Speaker 1: this was a great question. First, no one is going
Speaker 1: to get much done in a hospital. Her first move
Speaker 1: should be to release herself from any expectations. Even if
Speaker 1: she did nothing other than manage her father's care for
Speaker 1: a few weeks, it would be okay. Life would not
Speaker 1: completely fall apart. That said, she could maintain some sense
Speaker 1: of the progress that was important to her by turning
Speaker 1: her tasks into very very small ones. Something like pay
Speaker 1: bills might get interrupted, which can be frustrating, but write
Speaker 1: down amount to pay for a single bill is doable.
Speaker 1: Then she could write a check or find the website
Speaker 1: or app to pay as another step. The next bill
Speaker 1: might likewise be broken up into two to three steps.
Speaker 1: Two with tasks taking less than a minute, she could
Speaker 1: definitely get through enough to feel like she'd done something.
Speaker 1: She could also find fun, fairly low effort activities that
Speaker 1: would fit in small bits of time. She mentioned listening
Speaker 1: to this podcast, which is great. She could also read
Speaker 1: a poem, write in a one sentenced journal, borrow some
Speaker 1: art books from the library and digital form, and then
Speaker 1: look through a few beautiful pictures at a time she
Speaker 1: could brainstorm items for her list of a hundred dreams.
Speaker 1: That really extensive bucket list we've talked about in past episodes.
Speaker 1: Even if you're not caring for someone in the hospital,
Speaker 1: I find it's helpful to make a list of these
Speaker 1: little bits of joy that can fit into bits of time.
Speaker 1: There are many circumstances in life when you can't do involved,
Speaker 1: lengthy activities. Maybe you're caring for a toddler. Maybe you've
Speaker 1: got some downtime at work, but not the sort where
Speaker 1: you can plan to read a whole novel. In any case,
Speaker 1: come up with a few small items that can make
Speaker 1: the time pleasant and well, the time will be more
Speaker 1: pleasant and I'm a big fan of never wishing time
Speaker 1: away in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's B the number four. Then breakst p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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