Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to
Speaker 1: waste time better. We all have low energy time that
Speaker 1: is hard to use well. If some wasted time is inevitable,
Speaker 1: it might be wise to figure out how to waste
Speaker 1: this time in ways that are at least mostly satisfying.
Speaker 1: Longtime listeners have probably heard me talking about getting a
Speaker 1: new iPhone a few months ago. None of my apps transferred,
Speaker 1: and so I needed to make an active decision about
Speaker 1: whether to put social media apps back on my phone.
Speaker 1: I elected not to. I eventually wound up returning to
Speaker 1: that site formerly known as Twitter x now because there's
Speaker 1: just been so much moretter making news lately. I am
Speaker 1: still off the other apps, though I wish I could
Speaker 1: say that.
Speaker 2: I have been incredibly productive with all the time I
Speaker 2: have found, but unfortunately that is not the case. If anything,
Speaker 2: my screen time tallies have gone up. I'm not looking
Speaker 2: at photos on Instagram, but I'm looking at my own
Speaker 2: old photos. I'm not looking at people's screeds on Facebook,
Speaker 2: but I am reading the comments on posts at The
Speaker 2: New York Times and on some well trafficked blogs. It
Speaker 2: seems I have a pretty strong desire to scroll around,
Speaker 2: and apparently I am agnostic about where I am doing
Speaker 2: that scrolling. I am pretty sure most of us have
Speaker 2: some inclination to waste time. I have seen thousands of
Speaker 2: time logs over the years, and I have never seen
Speaker 2: one where every single minute was devoted to something meaningful
Speaker 2: or even enjoyable for the person or the people they
Speaker 2: care about. Oh well, but given that this is the case,
Speaker 2: the question is not necessarily how to stop wasting time,
Speaker 2: It is how to waste time better. Of course, there
Speaker 2: are a few things we can do to make sure
Speaker 2: that there is only so much time to waste. Being
Speaker 2: engaged in your job makes working hours feel better, so
Speaker 2: might be worth doing an audit on that. Spending hours
Speaker 2: with friends and family enjoying each other's company is definitely
Speaker 2: not wasted time. Hobbies make down time feel a lot
Speaker 2: more satisfying. But even though I love singing and running
Speaker 2: and playing the piano, I am not going to spend
Speaker 2: all my down time on these things. I'm just not,
Speaker 2: so how can I spend low energy time better? This
Speaker 2: is one reason I try to borrow a lot of
Speaker 2: coffee table books from the library. Looking at someone's lovely
Speaker 2: living room with a view of the ocean is a
Speaker 2: lot like looking at Instagram. But I can't get sucked
Speaker 2: into some other influencer's really horrible take on modern medicine
Speaker 2: by accident. I subscribe to a lot of magazines to
Speaker 2: at least try to limit the time spin online. I
Speaker 2: will reread books I have read before, because well, if
Speaker 2: I know what's going to happen, it's a little easier
Speaker 2: on the brain. I go for meandering walks while listening
Speaker 2: to music if that is an option. Even online time
Speaker 2: probably can be improved. I'm a fan of closed communities
Speaker 2: spots on the Internet where people have to pay to join,
Speaker 2: or at least have to be approved to join. Having
Speaker 2: to use real names is a huge plus. It means
Speaker 2: people feel like they have a relationship with everyone else,
Speaker 2: and there are real downsides to behaving badly. People will
Speaker 2: know who you are. That is not the case with
Speaker 2: a lot of places. If you approach time knowing you
Speaker 2: will waste time, you can figure out ways to make
Speaker 2: this downtime better. Indeed, I would recommend making a list
Speaker 2: if you can choose how to spend your time, how
Speaker 2: do you like to spend your time? What about time
Speaker 2: that's sort of discretionary but not entirely, like downtime at
Speaker 2: work or while watching children, or even while standing in line.
Speaker 2: What can you do during those times? Make a list
Speaker 2: of things that feel most meaningful or enjoyable that might
Speaker 2: still be possible during these windows. Then train yourself to
Speaker 2: do those things. First, If you are getting bored at
Speaker 2: work but you aren't chained to your chair, go for
Speaker 2: a walk. If you're puttering around the house waiting for
Speaker 2: a kid to come home, listen to some music. If
Speaker 2: you're planning to scroll while waiting in a TSA line
Speaker 2: at the airport, log into that private group instead of
Speaker 2: regular social media and read the threads there. Not all
Speaker 2: time can be spent perfectly by any means, but given
Speaker 2: that everyone wastes time, figuring out how to waste time
Speaker 2: in ways that feel more enjoyable can be a big win.
Speaker 2: It's worth putting some thought into it. In the meantime,
Speaker 2: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 2: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to before breakfast.
Speaker 2: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 2: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 2: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 2: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 2: listen to your favorite shows.