WEBVTT - Plan your early finish fun 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to plan your early finished fun. Deciding

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<v Speaker 1>what you'll do after you complete a task gives you

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<v Speaker 1>something to look forward to and keeps you from dilly

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<v Speaker 1>dallying on a project for longer than it requires. The

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<v Speaker 1>more you study your time, the better you get at

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<v Speaker 1>anticipating how long a given task will take. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>I know it takes me about forty five minutes to

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<v Speaker 1>write a blog post. Writing drafts for a week's worth

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<v Speaker 1>of Before Breakfast episodes can take ninety minutes to two

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<v Speaker 1>and a half hours, depending on how long the episodes are.

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<v Speaker 1>One upside of tracking my time for the last six

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<v Speaker 1>years is that I've gotten better at estimating time. This

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<v Speaker 1>is a really useful skill for making challenging but doable schedules.

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<v Speaker 1>Some tasks, though, can expand to fill the available space.

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<v Speaker 1>One way to avoid that is to allocate a reasonable

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<v Speaker 1>quantity of time to the task, but then choose something

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<v Speaker 1>you will do when you finish early. That way, you

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<v Speaker 1>will look for ways to be efficient. You'll push through

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<v Speaker 1>rather than getting distracted with other things. For instance, suppose

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<v Speaker 1>your task for your lunch break is to write up

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<v Speaker 1>your patient notes from the morning. You might decide that

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<v Speaker 1>if you write up the notes efficiently and finish before

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<v Speaker 1>your lunch break ends, you'll go outside and eat your

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<v Speaker 1>lunch in the sun. If your task for the afternoon

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<v Speaker 1>is to prep for a job interview, you could decide

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<v Speaker 1>that if you finish preparing before it's time to pick

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<v Speaker 1>up your daughter from school, you'll go to the boutique

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<v Speaker 1>near her school and find a great accessory to add

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<v Speaker 1>flair to your inter you outfit. If your task for

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<v Speaker 1>the morning is to write up and circulate the minutes

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<v Speaker 1>and next steps from a big meeting held the previous day,

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<v Speaker 1>you could decide that, if you finish early, you'll listen

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<v Speaker 1>to a recorded webinar a colleague recommended about running effective meetings.

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<v Speaker 1>Deciding on the specific early finished fun activities will motivate

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<v Speaker 1>you to work with purpose. You're not rushing through your

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<v Speaker 1>important tasks. You're just approaching them with focus. You're refusing

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<v Speaker 1>to let your mind wander, and after you're done, you're

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<v Speaker 1>not going to continue fiddling with your work without adding

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<v Speaker 1>more value. You're completing the task well and efficiently. And

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<v Speaker 1>then you're having fun, specific fun, not the random and

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<v Speaker 1>inefficient email checks that we often use to fill this

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<v Speaker 1>time in your personal life. Early finished fund can really

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<v Speaker 1>be well fun finished sending in your kids school registration

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<v Speaker 1>forms and you can work on a puzzle for the

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<v Speaker 1>next one minutes. But during the work day, it might

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<v Speaker 1>make sense to think about early finished fund that will

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<v Speaker 1>boost your overall productivity. A walk could do that, but

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<v Speaker 1>so could a chat with your work best friend or

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<v Speaker 1>the enthusiastic junior staff. Or you're mentoring in certain kinds

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<v Speaker 1>of work. Seeing the beneficiaries of the fruits of your labor,

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<v Speaker 1>customers and action kids in your programs can be very motivational.

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<v Speaker 1>So go be energized by seeing the why behind your tasks,

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<v Speaker 1>or choose early finished fund that's about learning. Watch a

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<v Speaker 1>ted talk, read an article, read a book chapter that

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<v Speaker 1>sort of thing, And there can be a place for

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<v Speaker 1>frivolous early finished fund too. If you have put in

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<v Speaker 1>the expected hours and fulfilled your responsibilities, then consider yourself

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<v Speaker 1>free to go to the movies or bake a special

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<v Speaker 1>career meet a friend for happy hour. So today, as

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<v Speaker 1>you look at the tasks you need to complete, consider

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<v Speaker 1>whether you could motivate yourself to work productively and efficiently

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<v Speaker 1>by making a plan for early finish fun. If you do,

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<v Speaker 1>you can let me know how it goes at Laura

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<v Speaker 1>at Laura Vanderkamp dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four, then

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an

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<v Speaker 1>email at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart media dot com

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<v Speaker 1>that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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<v Speaker 1>Before break Fist is a production of I heart Radio.

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