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

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to make time for you a habit. Even

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Speaker 1: if you are not entirely sure what hobbies or passions

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Speaker 1: you'd like to pursue, carving out time for yourself can

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Speaker 1: help you start to figure this out. In my most

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Speaker 1: recent book, Tranquility by Tuesday, I talk about my nine

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Speaker 1: favorite time management rules that can help people calm the

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Speaker 1: chaos and make time for what matters. One of those rules,

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Speaker 1: rule number seven, to be exact, is to take one

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Speaker 1: night for you. I challenge busy people to spend a

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Speaker 1: few hours a week on something that is not work

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Speaker 1: and is not caring for family. It is just for you.

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Speaker 1: Doing so can make life feel more sustainable and joyful. Ideally,

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Speaker 1: this night for you involves a commitment to something you

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Speaker 1: find energizing. I sing an a choir on Thursday nights.

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Speaker 1: Some people have a regular tennis game with a partner,

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Speaker 1: or play on a softball team, or attend a painting class,

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Speaker 1: or volunteer at a food bank every Wednesday after work.

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Speaker 1: These are all great ideas, but sometimes people tell me

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Speaker 1: that they are not sure what they would do with

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Speaker 1: their night off. They don't have a particular passion or

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Speaker 1: hobby that seems to lend itself to this, or if

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Speaker 1: they do, there might not be great opportunities for that

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Speaker 1: thing in their community. I do think that in this

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Speaker 1: wide world, and especially we consider all the virtual options

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Speaker 1: out there, people can come up with something. But even

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Speaker 1: if you are not sure what you would do, I'd

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Speaker 1: strongly suggest committing to take a few hours a week

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Speaker 1: to explore your interests in the hopes of figuring it out.

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Speaker 1: Time for you can be a habit even if you're

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Speaker 1: not totally sure what you will do with it. If

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Speaker 1: you've got young kids, there are obvious logistical challenges with this.

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Speaker 1: So if you've got a co parent, one great ideas

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Speaker 1: just too trade off. Each of you gets one night

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Speaker 1: off each week and you cover for each other. On

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Speaker 1: your night off. Just go do something. Visit a friend,

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Speaker 1: go to a bookstore, sit in a coffee shop, take

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Speaker 1: a walk, go to the gym, maybe go to a

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Speaker 1: movie or anything along those lines. It doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: be perfect, it just has to be reasonably enjoyable. The

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Speaker 1: next week, during your time off, do the same thing

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Speaker 1: or do something else, see what you enjoy. If you

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Speaker 1: keep finding yourself doing something similar, that might be a

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Speaker 1: clue to your interests. If you always wind up in

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Speaker 1: your town's museum or galleries, you might enjoy an art class.

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Speaker 1: If you find you really enjoy a particular class at

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Speaker 1: your gym, you can start thinking of yourself as a

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Speaker 1: regular and get to know the other attendees. Or you

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Speaker 1: can use this time to sit in a coffee shop

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Speaker 1: and think about what you enjoyed as a kid and

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Speaker 1: brainstorm ways to do this now. If you don't have

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Speaker 1: someone who can easily cover for your kids, this is

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Speaker 1: obviously more complicated. I do think that having one night

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Speaker 1: off a week might be a reasonable use of babysitting

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Speaker 1: funds over the long run, getting one night off each

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Speaker 1: week can make you a more present and have person.

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Speaker 1: But if that is not going to fly, you might

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Speaker 1: also be able to build up a community of other

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Speaker 1: folks in similar circumstances who can cover for each other.

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Speaker 1: A friend gets Tuesday night off and you take her kids,

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Speaker 1: and she takes your kids on Thursday nights. But by

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Speaker 1: figuring out a way to build this time into your life,

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Speaker 1: you will start thinking about what you'd like to do

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Speaker 1: with it. You will start approaching your leisure time with

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Speaker 1: more intention. You will start thinking about possibilities rather than

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Speaker 1: assuming that there is no time. You do have time

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Speaker 1: that one night a week you take for you. After

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Speaker 1: a few weeks of trying different things, you might have

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Speaker 1: more insight into what you enjoy. Or you can start

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Speaker 1: following the clues. You find your aerobics class at the

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Speaker 1: GEM reasonably interesting, but a fellow attendee mentions that she

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Speaker 1: started a tap dancing class at a nearby studio and

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Speaker 1: loves it. You go try that out and just like that,

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Speaker 1: you find a new passion that will have you looking

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Speaker 1: forward to Tuesday nights. Make time for you a habit,

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Speaker 1: and you will start to figure out what you like

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Speaker 1: to do. It really is as simple as that. In

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

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our times. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b the

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Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com

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Speaker 1: that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters,

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Speaker 1: thanks so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

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Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.