1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to plan for distracted days. When you 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: know there won't be long stretches of time to focus 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: and you might be interrupted a lot. You can still 6 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: choose your to do list to get a reasonable amount done. 7 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: I am writing this on a Tuesday that has been, 8 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:41,200 Speaker 1: to put it charitably, not structured for concentration. I needed 9 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: to bring my car into the shop and arrange to 10 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: pick it up. There was an h FACT crew at 11 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: my house working on the system since the room wasn't 12 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: getting heat. There were three furniture deliveries scheduled, though one 13 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: crew wound up not coming when it turned out the 14 00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: dresser they were bringing had been severely damaged at the warehouse. Meanwhile, 15 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 1: my daughter forgot her trumpet for Bandai, and no sooner 16 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: had that been dispatched than I saw my seven year 17 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: old lunchbox still sitting on the kitchen counter, so that 18 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: needed to go to school too. These are all first 19 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: world problems, to be sure, but even beyond that, the 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: good news is that I knew most of these issues 21 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: were going to happen not the forgotten trumpet and lunch, 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: of course, But I figured that with workmen and furniture 23 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: delivery crews coming in and out, I wasn't going to 24 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: have any long spaces of concentration, So I needed to 25 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: choose to do us for the day that reflected that 26 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: if I did, I might be able to get a 27 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: reasonable amount done. Maybe you too have days where you 28 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: know you will be pulled away a lot. Maybe you'll 29 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: have some time to work, but you don't really know 30 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: how long each window will be. If this is going 31 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: to happen, you can do a few things first, and 32 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: I hope you are doing this already. You should plan 33 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:08,519 Speaker 1: your life a week at a time. If you spend 34 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: a dedicated chunk of time every week looking at the 35 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: whole of the upcoming week, then you can plan more holistically. 36 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: You could see that one day would feature a lot 37 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: of interruptions, but maybe another day would not. If you 38 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: have some work that requires concentration and other work that 39 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: does not require concentration, you would see that it would 40 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: be inefficient to do the little things on the day 41 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: with open time. Better to save those for the day 42 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: when you'll be pulled in many directions. You can also 43 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: make yourself a very clear list of what you are 44 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: going to attempt on your interrupted day. This serves two purposes. First, 45 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: it is always helpful to work from a list so 46 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: you don't forget things. But more importantly, if you plan 47 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: a small number of doable things for the day, you 48 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: will most likely get through them. Then you can end 49 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: the day feeling good about your productivity, as opposed to 50 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: feeling like you got nothing done. Most likely it wasn't nothing, 51 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: and now you know that, indeed, you might get more 52 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: done than you think. I was only aiming to do 53 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: small things. But when eleven o'clock rolled around and I 54 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: realized that many of the major interruptions had already happened, 55 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: and the next furniture delivery window didn't start for another hour, 56 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: I realized I could make some serious headway. To be sure, 57 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: it is better to build days where you won't get distracted. 58 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: If every day is a constant battle for attention, you 59 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: can get burned out and feel like you are never 60 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: making progress. You might be able to study your schedule 61 00:03:56,200 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: and work with your manager to enable more concentration, but 62 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: when it's only a few days and you know they 63 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: are coming, you can plan for them, and then you 64 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: can be more accepting of all interruptions. You can appreciate 65 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: the reasons for them again, not the forgotten trumpet or lunch. 66 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: But it will be good to have heat and good 67 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: to have the furniture I ordered, and I will get 68 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: through everything eventually. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks 69 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, 70 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me 71 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with 72 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. 73 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: That's b E the number four than breakfast p o D. 74 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast 75 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled 76 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,160 Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look 77 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production 78 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 79 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 80 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.