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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.

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Speaker 2: Today's tip is that if you can't work, plan, even

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Speaker 2: if your current self doesn't feel like doing anything, you

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Speaker 2: might be willing to think about what future you should

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Speaker 2: be doing. That can turn what might feel like wasted

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Speaker 2: time into something far more productive. So longtime listeners know

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Speaker 2: that one of my favorite time management rules is to

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Speaker 2: plan your upcoming weeks on Friday afternoons. When I tell

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Speaker 2: people about this rule, I first explain the idea of

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Speaker 2: planning your life in weeks, think about the upcoming one

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Speaker 2: hundred and sixty eight hours and what's important to you

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Speaker 2: profession and personally. I promise that this is a life

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Speaker 2: changing practice. But once people have their heads around that,

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Speaker 2: inevitably the follow up question is why Friday afternoons. The

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Speaker 2: answer is that if you work a Monday to Friday week,

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Speaker 2: it is really hard to start anything new on Friday afternoons.

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Speaker 2: Most people are drifting into the weekend at that point.

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Speaker 2: But if you can't actually execute on any of your priorities,

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Speaker 2: at least maybe you can define what those priorities will

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Speaker 2: be for upcoming days and then future you, who hopefully

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Speaker 2: has more vim and vigor than Friday, you can tackle them.

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Speaker 2: That's why Friday is my weekly planning day. But you

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Speaker 2: can convert any low energy time into play time. We

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Speaker 2: have all had those days you meant to work on

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Speaker 2: a big project in the afternoon, but you just got

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Speaker 2: back from lunch and frankly, you would rather take a nap. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: you work somewhere that this is frowned upon. If that

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Speaker 2: is the case, why not use this time for planning

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Speaker 2: something else. It could be.

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Speaker 1: Your full upcoming week, but it could just be defining

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Speaker 1: your to do list for tomorrow. You could plan your

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Speaker 1: upcoming weekend. Or here's an idea, you could do some

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Speaker 1: longer range planning. Make a summer fun list, a list

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Speaker 1: of things you'd like to do to enjoy your summer

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Speaker 1: and make summer memories. You could work on your list

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Speaker 1: of one hundred dreams. This exercise, which was shared with

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Speaker 1: me by career coach Caroline Senza Levine years ago, is

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Speaker 1: basically a long unedited bucket list. You could put items

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Speaker 1: like travel to New Zealand or singing Carnegie Hall on there,

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Speaker 1: but you can also put stuff like visit that state

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Speaker 1: park that's thirty minutes away that you keep meaning to

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Speaker 1: go to but haven't. Or it could be trying that

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Speaker 1: new gelato place or replacing your leaky coffee maker. If

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Speaker 1: a list of one hundred dreams isn't inspiring, you plan

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Speaker 1: something random, like next year's Christmas vacation or that hobby

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Speaker 1: themed vacation you want to pitch to your best friend.

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Speaker 1: Or if you're like me and have to come up

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Speaker 1: with ideas again and again, you might look through discarded

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Speaker 1: ideas from last year and plan November's podcast topics. Now,

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Speaker 1: one of several things might happen if you plan when

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Speaker 1: you can't work first. Sometimes people find planning energizing. As

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Speaker 1: you picture yourself writing a collection of seasonal sonnets, or

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Speaker 1: visiting Iceland or going on a full bike ride through

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Speaker 1: the Grand Titan, you might start to feel more excited

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Speaker 1: about life. Maybe you'll even be excited enough to make

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Speaker 1: a tiny bit of progress on whatever project you've been

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Speaker 1: putting off. But if that doesn't happen, at least now

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Speaker 1: you've got a cool plan for next week or next

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Speaker 1: weekend or next November's podcasts, which is something you didn't

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Speaker 1: have before. You may not feel like doing anything today

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Speaker 1: but tomorrow's schedule. That is a work of art with

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Speaker 1: time allocated to all your priorities. You've planned some fun

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Speaker 1: weekend get togethers from now until August. You've picked out

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Speaker 1: which operas you want to listen to in your car

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Speaker 1: on your commute. Who knows what you have planned. When

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Speaker 1: you plan when you can't work, you are in fact working,

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Speaker 1: and in many cases you are doing higher you work

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Speaker 1: than you would have been doing anyway. The satisfying life

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Speaker 1: is all about turning intentions into reality. If you plan

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Speaker 1: when you can't work, you are one step closer to

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Speaker 1: that happening. In the meantime.

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Speaker 3: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 3: the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 3: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 3: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 3: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number

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Speaker 3: four than Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an

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Speaker 3: email at Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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