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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 that people are a good use of time.

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Speaker 1: On this Valentine's Day, we think of romantic love, but

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Speaker 1: there are lots of forms of love, and all these

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Speaker 1: forms of love benefit from frequency in expressing them. So

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Speaker 1: for those you are closest to, aim to create three

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Speaker 1: moments of genuine connection each week. You will make your

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Speaker 1: loved ones feel good and you will probably be happier too.

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Speaker 1: Long time listeners know that one of my favorite time

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Speaker 1: management rules is that three times a week is a habit.

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Speaker 1: Anything we do three times a week is a regular

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Speaker 1: part of our lives. This can be a helpful mindset

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Speaker 1: in situations where it might be difficult or impossible to

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Speaker 1: do something daily. If you travel frequently for work, you

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Speaker 1: might not be able to read to your kids every night,

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Speaker 1: but you probably can read to them three times per week.

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Speaker 1: So rather than lament that you often aren't there on

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Speaker 1: Tuesday night, you can make the most of the nights

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Speaker 1: you are there and relish your identity as a dedicated

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Speaker 1: bedtime literary guide. I find this is also a helpful

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Speaker 1: mindset for connecting with friends and family members who you

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Speaker 1: might not spend huge amounts of time with every single day.

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Speaker 1: With my kids, for instance, I spend a lot of

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Speaker 1: time with a toddler by virtue of him being little

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Speaker 1: and needing constant care. The four older kids, on the

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Speaker 1: other hand, are in school all day and they have activities,

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Speaker 1: and when they are home, they can often disappear into

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Speaker 1: their rooms seemingly for days, emerging only when required to

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Speaker 1: or to eat. So as I think about my time

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Speaker 1: and think about my weeks, I try to engineer at

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Speaker 1: least a handful of moments where connection might be possible.

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Speaker 1: Often this involves driving a kid somewhere. They don't always

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Speaker 1: want to talk in the car, but sometimes they do.

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Speaker 1: I like Legos for their own sake, but I definitely

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Speaker 1: enjoy the fact that I can do complicated sets with

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Speaker 1: my older kids. I find the pieces for each step,

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Speaker 1: they put the pieces together. I think about this with

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Speaker 1: my husband as well. Even on weeks when we don't

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Speaker 1: have a date night, we might be able to eat

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Speaker 1: lunch together three times while we are both working from home.

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Speaker 1: During the busy years when people are building careers and

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Speaker 1: raising families, getting together with friends can be really challenging.

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Speaker 1: But if you broaden your actions to connecting in some

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Speaker 1: form or another, perhaps you can aim for three moments

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Speaker 1: of connection during the week with at least your closest friends.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you get together once and have one call and

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Speaker 1: one text conversation, or maybe it's three texts if it

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Speaker 1: is that sort of week, but at least it is frequent.

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Speaker 1: So as you think about how you spend your time,

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Speaker 1: think about the people you feel closest to. Would it

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Speaker 1: be possible to connect in some way three times per week.

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Speaker 1: The forms of connection might be front for different people,

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Speaker 1: but with three as your target, you will generally be

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Speaker 1: aiming for a little more than might naturally happen with

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Speaker 1: folks who are harder to connect with, but it will

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Speaker 1: still feel doable. And when things feel doable, we do them.

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Speaker 1: Now I realized for some folks listening to this, it

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Speaker 1: might sound a little funny to put numbers on connecting

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Speaker 1: with people, or to set targets at all. In this area.

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Speaker 1: We should just do what feels authentic. We should seize

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Speaker 1: the moment, and that's a great idea. I certainly take

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Speaker 1: opportunities to connect when they arise, but in our distracted world,

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Speaker 1: it is easy to do other things. Love is shown

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Speaker 1: in ours. Relationships are built on frequency. There are many

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Speaker 1: things in life outside our control, but some things are

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Speaker 1: in our control. We can't control how people will respond,

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Speaker 1: but we can control our actions. Thinking through and planning

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Speaker 1: connection helps to make it happen. In the meantime, This

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Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at i heeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I

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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Yea