WEBVTT - Do some rather than none

0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:09.160
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:16.360
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:22.080
<v Speaker 1>tip is to do some rather than none. Even if

0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:25.040
<v Speaker 1>you can't do your normal routines or meet your goals

0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:29.720
<v Speaker 1>for a day, doing a little something is often better

0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:34.559
<v Speaker 1>than nothing at all. You keep the habit and make

0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:38.720
<v Speaker 1>a little progress, which means there might be less to

0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:44.920
<v Speaker 1>make up later. So we have all been there. You

0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.159
<v Speaker 1>plan to go to the gym after work, but in

0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:52.160
<v Speaker 1>the work day with little energy, you are trying to

0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:56.200
<v Speaker 1>read through an immense book, but reading much of it

0:00:56.280 --> 0:01:01.480
<v Speaker 1>on a certain day seems daunting. You resolve to work

0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.400
<v Speaker 1>on your novel, but you are facing a creative block

0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:11.280
<v Speaker 1>or the day is rapidly getting away from you. We

0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:17.240
<v Speaker 1>are human. From years of studying people's habits and goals,

0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.360
<v Speaker 1>I am pretty sure that we often set way too

0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:25.320
<v Speaker 1>lofty expectations for what we can do on any given day.

0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:31.720
<v Speaker 1>These expectations then feel overwhelming in the moment, and we

0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:35.160
<v Speaker 1>give up on the hard days and then have trouble

0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:41.800
<v Speaker 1>getting back in better to keep expectations low. But even

0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:46.120
<v Speaker 1>if you haven't set low expectations on any given day,

0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:50.320
<v Speaker 1>it might help to lower them a bit. Do some

0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:56.560
<v Speaker 1>rather than none, and you maintain the habit while moving forward.

0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.960
<v Speaker 1>So if you are too tired to do a full workout,

0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.920
<v Speaker 1>but the gym is on the way home, tell yourself

0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:10.320
<v Speaker 1>you'll just stop there for five minutes. You will lift

0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:15.520
<v Speaker 1>that set of dumbbells once, or you will simply read

0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:20.080
<v Speaker 1>one page and that giant book you're attacking one page,

0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.440
<v Speaker 1>you don't have to write for an hour. You will

0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:31.120
<v Speaker 1>just write one sentence. These choices to do some rather

0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:36.240
<v Speaker 1>than none, do a few good things many times. Once

0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:41.600
<v Speaker 1>you have started, you will keep going. You are at

0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.680
<v Speaker 1>the gem, so it doesn't seem like a big deal

0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.440
<v Speaker 1>to move on to the leg press after those dumbbells

0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.760
<v Speaker 1>or something cool happens on that one page you are reading,

0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:57.520
<v Speaker 1>and you want to find out what happens next. But

0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.520
<v Speaker 1>even if you only do a little bit, you haven't

0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:07.280
<v Speaker 1>stopped the habit. You have made some progress, which is

0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.400
<v Speaker 1>less progress you will have to make in the future.

0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.880
<v Speaker 1>That is, one fewer pages to read or one less

0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:19.080
<v Speaker 1>sentence to write. It does add up. I think the

0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.880
<v Speaker 1>tendency to do none is a way to let ourselves

0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:28.600
<v Speaker 1>off the hook. We design our habits for our best days.

0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.280
<v Speaker 1>Instead of thinking through the logistics of how things will

0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:36.520
<v Speaker 1>work on bad days, doing none allows us to treat

0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:41.640
<v Speaker 1>bad days as total aberrations. Of course I couldn't go

0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:45.800
<v Speaker 1>to the gym given that stressful meeting. Of Course I

0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.160
<v Speaker 1>can't write anything in my novel if I just had

0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.640
<v Speaker 1>to take a kid to urgent care. But is that

0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.960
<v Speaker 1>true for many things? The answer is that you can

0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:02.360
<v Speaker 1>still do a little bit. Doing a little bit helps

0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:07.000
<v Speaker 1>diminish this all or nothing thinking that usually isn't helpful.

0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.040
<v Speaker 1>You aren't going to get many perfect days in life,

0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:13.920
<v Speaker 1>so figure out what you can do on the bad

0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:19.600
<v Speaker 1>days and make those things happen. It is still something,

0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:27.960
<v Speaker 1>and something is almost always better than nothing. In the meantime,

0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:34.520
<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:44.479
<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.480
<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.320
<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:56.920
<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,

0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.960
<v Speaker 1>then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.360
<v Speaker 1>an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com.

0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.880
<v Speaker 1>That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.560
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.

0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.440
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:25.400
<v Speaker 1>from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:26.800
<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.