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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to not make life a chore. I

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Speaker 1: get that there are lots of chores we have to

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Speaker 1: do in our lives, but there is no value in

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Speaker 1: making chores out of activities we would cheerfully do anyway,

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Speaker 1: even if they weren't on our task lists. We can

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Speaker 1: keep these activities completely separate from our to do lists

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Speaker 1: if we'd like so. Lots of productive people, and I

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Speaker 1: am guessing that this includes most Before Breakfast listeners love

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Speaker 1: planning what they'll do when and tracking their accomplishments. This

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Speaker 1: can be great for getting a lot done efficiently. I

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Speaker 1: love prioritize task lists and done lists, or what Gretchen

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Speaker 1: Reuben calls toadal lists to note our accomplishments. There can

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Speaker 1: be a downside of tracking your two dos though. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: you can end up feeling like all you do is work,

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Speaker 1: whether on professional tasks or personal ones. If that sounds familiar,

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Speaker 1: consider whether you are making life a chore. Remember that

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Speaker 1: the purpose of task lists is to make sure that

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Speaker 1: you get done what you need to. Don't make things

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Speaker 1: into chores that would happen even if they weren't dictated

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Speaker 1: by the to do list. Instead, let them remain pleasures. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, I rarely put runs or walks on my

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Speaker 1: to do list for the day. I love going outside

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Speaker 1: and exercising in the fresh air. I'm enjoying going for

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Speaker 1: walks with my older kids while they're on breaks from

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Speaker 1: their virtual school classes. I'm going to do this if

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Speaker 1: it is at all possible. So, while there's no real

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Speaker 1: harm in putting run and walk on my to do list,

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Speaker 1: doing so can wind up making my to do list

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Speaker 1: look long, which can be intimidating, so I tend to

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Speaker 1: leave these items off. If you love choosing great recipes

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Speaker 1: to make for dinner, you probably don't need to assign

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Speaker 1: yourself meal planning as a Thursday evening chore. It'll just

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Speaker 1: happen sometime or another when you're puttering around your kitchen

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Speaker 1: and feeling inspired. If you love giving gifts, the same

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Speaker 1: is probably true for holiday shopping, and sure, you may

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Speaker 1: need to look at your schedule to see when a

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Speaker 1: mall trip or online shopping session could happen, but by

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Speaker 1: gifts does not need to show up on your late

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Speaker 1: November task list. You'll do it without prodding, You'll do

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Speaker 1: it joyfully. Maybe you need to make a note for

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Speaker 1: some time in December to make sure you've chosen all

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Speaker 1: the gifts you need. But that's it. Let the pleasure

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Speaker 1: be the pleasure and only make a task at the

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Speaker 1: last step of the process. I know of a very

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Speaker 1: productive woman who labels a day on her calendar every

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Speaker 1: month or so free day. She considers that time spoken for,

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Speaker 1: enlists her support system for her normal have to dos,

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Speaker 1: and doesn't schedule anything, no appointments, no kid responsibilities. When

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Speaker 1: the free day arrives, she does whatever she desires with

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Speaker 1: only one restriction, no chores. I think she's onto something.

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Speaker 1: It's easy to feel driven to get things done and

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Speaker 1: cross them off our to do lists, and I'd say

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Speaker 1: that if we're feeling like we are never making time

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Speaker 1: for ourselves or never making time for fun, maybe sometimes

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Speaker 1: we do need to put fun stuff on our to

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Speaker 1: do lists. Doing so might nudge us to tap into

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Speaker 1: that same reservoir of drive that makes us get through

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Speaker 1: everything we set out to do. But sometimes it's okay

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Speaker 1: to let joys be joys. I don't assign myself to

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Speaker 1: read a chapter in a good book, I just do it.

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Speaker 1: We don't always need more to douse, so no need

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Speaker 1: to make something fun into a chore without a really

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Speaker 1: good reason. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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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 p o D.

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

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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