WEBVTT - Second Cup: Time the little things

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.680
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:14.160
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.760
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to time the little things. In our

0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.440
<v Speaker 1>efforts to streamline our lives, we can become obsessed with

0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:27.080
<v Speaker 1>minimizing or avoiding certain tasks. But instead of wondering how

0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.760
<v Speaker 1>long something takes, you can set a timer and find out.

0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:35.280
<v Speaker 1>Then you can make an informed decision about whether or

0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.360
<v Speaker 1>not a given activity is worth getting worked up about.

0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.560
<v Speaker 1>I think about the duration of little tasks every time

0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.440
<v Speaker 1>I empty the dishwasher. Trust me, I have never liked

0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.720
<v Speaker 1>emptying the dishwasher. I don't know that anyone does. And

0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.879
<v Speaker 1>before I began studying time, if someone asked me how

0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.920
<v Speaker 1>long I spent emptying the dishwasher each week, I might

0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:00.639
<v Speaker 1>have given some ridiculous figure like three hours. So tasks

0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.520
<v Speaker 1>seemed to take forever because they're an engaging You are

0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:08.479
<v Speaker 1>not using your skills, you are not being challenged. These

0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.560
<v Speaker 1>tasks just have to get done. And so the tendency

0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.120
<v Speaker 1>is to look for ways to be efficient or to

0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.160
<v Speaker 1>chuck these tasks from our lists. And I would see

0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.360
<v Speaker 1>that I could grab more plates at a time, or

0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:22.800
<v Speaker 1>grab a bowl with my left hand and a glass

0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.640
<v Speaker 1>with my right hand, because that corresponds with the locations

0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.760
<v Speaker 1>in my cupboards. I played around with loading the dishwasher

0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:30.640
<v Speaker 1>so that more of the spoons were on one side

0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.360
<v Speaker 1>of the silver ware compartment and more forks on the other.

0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.600
<v Speaker 1>Then I elected to time the process. Emptying the dishwasher

0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.760
<v Speaker 1>takes five minutes. Since this chore is shared across multiple

0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.040
<v Speaker 1>people in my house, I'm probably devoting fifteen minutes a

0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.960
<v Speaker 1>week to it. This is less time than I spend

0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.080
<v Speaker 1>staring off into space forgetting what I came into a

0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.840
<v Speaker 1>room for. I think I can safely stop fretting that

0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.080
<v Speaker 1>emptying the dishwasher is keeping me from living the life

0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.880
<v Speaker 1>I want. I'm sure we can all think of these

0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:06.160
<v Speaker 1>movements of seeming inefficiency. Waiting for an older garage door

0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.960
<v Speaker 1>to go up, you are doing nothing and nothing is

0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.440
<v Speaker 1>being asked of you. You are very aware of your

0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.400
<v Speaker 1>time because you are waiting, and so sometimes you get

0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.440
<v Speaker 1>impatient and just park outside. But even a very rickety

0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.839
<v Speaker 1>old door takes maybe fifteen seconds twenty seconds. You don't

0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.320
<v Speaker 1>need to use that time to survey your to do list.

0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.600
<v Speaker 1>You can just sit there, take a few deep breaths,

0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:35.160
<v Speaker 1>recite something motivational or not, you'll be okay. Sometimes putting

0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.040
<v Speaker 1>in a few inefficient minutes can even improve a situation.

0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.720
<v Speaker 1>I have very straight hair that looks better if I

0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:42.640
<v Speaker 1>use a curling iron to put a few waves in it.

0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.119
<v Speaker 1>And I used to overestimate how much time it took

0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:46.920
<v Speaker 1>me to get ready for things when I needed to

0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.720
<v Speaker 1>look presentable, until I realized that I can brush my

0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:51.480
<v Speaker 1>teeth in the minute it takes for the iron to

0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.520
<v Speaker 1>heat up, and then I can put in my waves

0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:56.760
<v Speaker 1>in about four minutes. Building this into my getting ready

0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.640
<v Speaker 1>routine doesn't actually require waking up twenty minutes early, So

0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.119
<v Speaker 1>why not take the extra four minutes and feel more confident?

0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:09.480
<v Speaker 1>Even that cliche of boring unengaged time waiting for a

0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.760
<v Speaker 1>pot to boil doesn't take that long. An electric kettle

0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.799
<v Speaker 1>can boil enough water for two cups of tea and

0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.880
<v Speaker 1>about three and a half minutes. Boiling enough water for

0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.680
<v Speaker 1>a single serving of spaghetti or oatmeal in a pot

0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.399
<v Speaker 1>on the stove is similar. If you just stood there

0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:28.200
<v Speaker 1>watching it, you would hardly notice the difference in your life.

0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.080
<v Speaker 1>You certainly aren't winning some major efficiency award by using

0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.800
<v Speaker 1>the time to delete emails instead, And I'd argue that

0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:41.120
<v Speaker 1>sometimes wasting little bits of time has an upside. Just

0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.960
<v Speaker 1>as a wealthy person doesn't fret about the price of

0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.600
<v Speaker 1>apples and whether they were ten cents cheaper last week,

0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:51.000
<v Speaker 1>a person within an abundant perspective on time doesn't fret

0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:55.160
<v Speaker 1>about the occasional inefficiency. You have more than enough time

0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:57.720
<v Speaker 1>for what you want to do in life. Waiting a

0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.080
<v Speaker 1>few seconds for the garage door to go up is

0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:04.880
<v Speaker 1>like saying keep the change. A schedule doesn't feel less crazy,

0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.360
<v Speaker 1>and a life doesn't feel richer because of a few

0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.680
<v Speaker 1>seconds shaved off here and there. Indeed, the opposite is

0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:17.120
<v Speaker 1>probably true. A little inefficiency can make you feel time rich,

0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.560
<v Speaker 1>and these moments of abundance feel good. So if you're

0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.200
<v Speaker 1>getting impatient about tiny bits of time, get some facts

0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.880
<v Speaker 1>time yourself and see how long these demands on your

0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:33.520
<v Speaker 1>time actually take. Then you can make an informed decision

0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:38.960
<v Speaker 1>about whether they're really burdens. In the meantime, This is Laura,

0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.159
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:51.680
<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.599
<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.920
<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:04.480
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast

0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:07.640
<v Speaker 1>p o D. You can also shoot me an email

0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:12.000
<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before

0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.240
<v Speaker 1>Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:23.599
<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.800
<v Speaker 1>a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.840
<v Speaker 1>my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:32.960
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.