Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to do your best to use that
Speaker 1: last hour or two of Friday afternoon. Well. It's easy
Speaker 1: to putter around, but if you can push through, you'll
Speaker 1: probably enjoy your weekend and the next week a whole
Speaker 1: lot more. I am writing the script at four pm
Speaker 1: on Friday. It's been a long week, and I'm not
Speaker 1: feeling particularly chipper. I tend to be in more of
Speaker 1: a writing mood in the mornings, but I know I've
Speaker 1: got a short work week coming up, with a lot
Speaker 1: of different commitments. I'll be best off getting these scripts
Speaker 1: done in the hour before my babysitter leaves. If I
Speaker 1: don't get them done, I'll have to find a block
Speaker 1: of work time over the weekend. And that's not the
Speaker 1: end of the world. But since I have this block
Speaker 1: of time now, it's also not strictly necessary. I just
Speaker 1: have to power through, and so that is what I
Speaker 1: am doing. Maybe it's what you can do too. Instead
Speaker 1: of hitting refresh on your inbox or puttering around for
Speaker 1: the last hour or so on Friday, tackle a list
Speaker 1: of things that you'd love to get off your plate
Speaker 1: for now. Maybe it's an email you know you need
Speaker 1: to answer. Maybe it's a scheduling email that could go
Speaker 1: out on Monday but doesn't require much brain power. You'll
Speaker 1: be fresh on Monday morning, and so you want to
Speaker 1: use your brain power for important things. Send the email
Speaker 1: on Friday afternoon, when the opportunity cost is lower. Maybe
Speaker 1: you can do things to set yourself up for a
Speaker 1: great Monday. One reason I'm writing these scripts now is
Speaker 1: that I can see I've got open time in a
Speaker 1: quiet house on Monday morning, perfect for recording, but I
Speaker 1: can't record scripts that aren't written, so here we are.
Speaker 1: Or maybe there's something you never get to that you
Speaker 1: keep saying you'd like to do. In general, we're better
Speaker 1: off scheduling these things for first thing Monday morning. But
Speaker 1: if you have time on Friday, seize Friday work on
Speaker 1: that book proposal for an hour. It's not much, but
Speaker 1: it's an hour better than nothing. Call someone you are
Speaker 1: mentoring to check in. She will appreciate the call, even
Speaker 1: if it is Friday afternoon. To be sure, it's hard
Speaker 1: to work when energy levels are low, but you can
Speaker 1: do a few things to make yourself feel better. Research
Speaker 1: on energy has found that even a short microburst, like
Speaker 1: a few minutes bounding up and down the stairs, can
Speaker 1: raise energy levels for an hour. You can make yourself
Speaker 1: a cup of tea or decalf coffee. We often have
Speaker 1: enough of a conditioned response to coffee that the lack
Speaker 1: of caffeine may not matter so much. And finally, eyes
Speaker 1: on the prize. If doing something now means you don't
Speaker 1: have to think about it until next week or for
Speaker 1: some tasks ever, again, that's a huge win. Anticipating the
Speaker 1: joy of that accomplishment can be enough to propel you forward.
Speaker 1: You'll relax later. Did we mention that there's a weekend
Speaker 1: coming up? Power through and you'll really feel like you've
Speaker 1: earned your time fully off. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod that's b E number four then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: favorite shows.