WEBVTT - Give yourself a bedtime

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<v Speaker 1>Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to give yourself a bedtime. I know

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people listen to this podcast in the morning.

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<v Speaker 1>I hope that today your morning started at the time

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<v Speaker 1>you wanted it to start. Hopefully you didn't spend the

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<v Speaker 1>thirty minutes after your first alarm battling with the snooze button.

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<v Speaker 1>Hopefully no one in your house was racing around and

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<v Speaker 1>yelling this morning because the morning started thirty minutes after

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<v Speaker 1>it was supposed to. But in case your morning didn't

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<v Speaker 1>go so well, here's one of the most important secrets

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<v Speaker 1>I've learned from studying people's timelogs. Good mornings start the

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<v Speaker 1>night before. I don't mean that you need to pack

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<v Speaker 1>everyone's lunches and layout clothes and all that you can

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<v Speaker 1>if you want, but you don't have to. What I

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<v Speaker 1>really mean is that the key to a good morning

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<v Speaker 1>is getting enough sleep, and the key to that is

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<v Speaker 1>going to bed on time. One of the best things

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<v Speaker 1>you and do to get control of your time is

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<v Speaker 1>to give yourself a bedtime. That way, you can turn

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<v Speaker 1>unproductive evening hours into productive morning hours. Setting a bedtime

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<v Speaker 1>as a grown up is pretty simple. You just need

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<v Speaker 1>to ask yourself a few questions. First, what time would

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<v Speaker 1>I like to wake up in the morning. Let's be

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<v Speaker 1>honest here. Well, it's fun to read stories of people

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<v Speaker 1>who wake up at four am to do triathlons. This

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<v Speaker 1>isn't realistic for most of us, but maybe you could

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<v Speaker 1>aim to wake up at six thirty in order to

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<v Speaker 1>get thirty minutes of writing in a shower in before

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<v Speaker 1>your middle schooler wakes up at seven fifteen. Second question,

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<v Speaker 1>how much sleep do I need? Let's be honest here too.

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<v Speaker 1>The vast majority of adults needs somewhere between seven to

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<v Speaker 1>eight hours per day. The odds that you need less

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<v Speaker 1>than six and a half hours are very low. I've

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<v Speaker 1>seen thousands of time logs over the years, including from

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<v Speaker 1>some very successful people, and I've seen only a handful

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<v Speaker 1>of short sleepers, and even those people tend to average

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<v Speaker 1>out around six hours per day when you look at

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<v Speaker 1>the whole week, not four. So let's say your number

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<v Speaker 1>is seven point four hours. I'm choosing that number because

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<v Speaker 1>it's my number. If I get eight hours of sleep

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<v Speaker 1>on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I'm cool with seven hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

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<v Speaker 1>Since this averages out to seven point four hours. Final question,

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<v Speaker 1>what time do I need to be in bed in

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<v Speaker 1>order to get this amount of sleep? This is a

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<v Speaker 1>simple math question. I count back seven hours from six

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<v Speaker 1>thirty am and I get PM. This is my bed time.

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<v Speaker 1>Ideally I set an alarm for at least twenty minutes

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<v Speaker 1>before that in order to give me time to brush

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<v Speaker 1>my teeth, slowly eas into bed and so forth. But

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<v Speaker 1>in any case, bedtime is bedtime, So figure out what

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<v Speaker 1>your bed time should be. I know that some people

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<v Speaker 1>hearing this, they're probably brisk sling at the idea of

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<v Speaker 1>a bedtime. It brings up all kinds of battles from childhood.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to probe the psychological issues, but hear

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<v Speaker 1>me out on this. The upside of giving yourself a

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<v Speaker 1>bedtime is that it forces you to make a decision.

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<v Speaker 1>If you know that you're supposed to be embedded at

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<v Speaker 1>eleven thirty when rolls around, you have a choice. You

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<v Speaker 1>can stay up. You are an adult, but having a

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<v Speaker 1>bedtime nudges you to ask if the reason you're staying

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<v Speaker 1>up is a good one. Maybe you and your spouse

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<v Speaker 1>are having a wonderful time together. Awesome, you have my blessing.

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<v Speaker 1>But maybe you're just hitting next in the Netflix queue.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe it's time to turn it off and thank yourself

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<v Speaker 1>in the morning. Because here's the thing. Most of us

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<v Speaker 1>responsible people just can't sleep in in the morning. We

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<v Speaker 1>need to get our kids to school, we need to

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<v Speaker 1>get ourselves to our jobs. So I like to think

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<v Speaker 1>of it like this. Going to bed early is how

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<v Speaker 1>grown ups sleep in. When you put it that way,

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<v Speaker 1>going to bed on time sounds like a treat. In

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd

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<v Speaker 1>love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the

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<v Speaker 1>number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart

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<v Speaker 1>media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with

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<v Speaker 1>all the letters. Thanks so much. I look forward to

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<v Speaker 1>staying in touch.