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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 2: Today's tip is that you don't need to fill time.

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Speaker 3: If you've got a light hour, a light day, a

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Speaker 3: light week, or even longer, you don't necessarily need to

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Speaker 3: go looking for something to do. If you tend to

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Speaker 3: be a frenetic sort of person, just try sitting with

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Speaker 3: it and see what comes to you. I collect a

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Speaker 3: lot of literary quotes, and one that stood out for

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Speaker 3: me is from Edith Wharton's book Twilight's Sleep. She describes

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Speaker 3: a character's thoughts this way an hour, why there was

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Speaker 3: no way of measuring the length of an empty hour.

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Speaker 3: It stretched away into infinity, like the endless road in

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Speaker 3: a nightmare. It gaped before her like the slippery sides

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Speaker 3: of an abyss. Nervously, she began to wonder what she

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Speaker 3: could do to fill it. It is a little absurd

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Speaker 3: to be this terrified of open time, but lots of

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Speaker 3: us react that way, much as we complain about having

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Speaker 3: no free time whatsoever. People don't necessarily like open space.

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Speaker 3: They worry they won't be needed at work if they

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Speaker 3: don't look busy all the time they put her around

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Speaker 3: the house, or fill time with electronic entertainment. But I

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Speaker 3: have found that when you don't fill time with whatever

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Speaker 3: is right there in front of you, something exciting tends

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Speaker 3: to happen. Maybe you respond to a message you wouldn't

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Speaker 3: have read when you were swamped with something else. The

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Speaker 3: next thing you know, you've got a big new project

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Speaker 3: headed your way, or you read an article all the

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Speaker 3: way to the end and come up with some big

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Speaker 3: new idea. A colleague stops by and you actually chat

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Speaker 3: and come to some new conclusions that save you all

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Speaker 3: sorts of time and money. Now does that always happen? Nope,

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Speaker 3: not at all. Sometimes open time just feels like you

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Speaker 3: are sitting there. But I do think that open space

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Speaker 3: invites opportunity in a way a cluttered calendar can't, and

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Speaker 3: more opportunity tends to be a good thing. We may

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Speaker 3: as well take it when we can. I am often

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Speaker 3: giving advice on how to clear the clutter out of

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Speaker 3: a calendar. But sometimes a calendar naturally has less clutter

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Speaker 3: than other times. Maybe it's a slow season. Lots of

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Speaker 3: people experience that in summer. Maybe you're coming out of

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Speaker 3: a big project and the next one isn't starting for

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Speaker 3: a bit. No doubt you could fill this time, but

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Speaker 3: you don't have to. You could see what happens. You

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Speaker 3: could see what you come up with and what you

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Speaker 3: think about and how you'd like to spend your time.

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Speaker 3: You could see who you seek out to talk to.

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Speaker 3: You could see where those conversations go. Either way, just

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Speaker 3: because you are not busy doesn't mean you need to

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Speaker 3: change your criteria of whether something is good to take on.

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Speaker 3: If you wouldn't be excited about a meeting or a project,

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Speaker 3: if you were absolutely slammed with other things, then you

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Speaker 3: don't need to take it on just because you aren't slammed.

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Speaker 3: Don't fill time. I know this is hard, but if

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Speaker 3: you believe as I do, that open space invites opportunity

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Speaker 3: in a way that a cluttered calendar can't, then closing

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Speaker 3: off the possibility of something that is an eight or

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Speaker 3: nine or ten on a ten point scale just to

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Speaker 3: fill that time with a four or a five seems silly.

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Speaker 3: Life offers up all sorts of possibilities. Sometimes you just

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Speaker 3: need to be patient. In the meantime, this is Laura,

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Speaker 3: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 3: our time.

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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 E the number four then Breakfast pod. You

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Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts.

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Speaker 1: At iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.