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 for those moments when your work it's
Speaker 1: hard and you're tempted to turn your attention elsewhere, You
Speaker 1: can do that after you persist a little longer on
Speaker 1: the task at hand, Identify a natural stopping point you'll
Speaker 1: reach before you take a break, and then persist until
Speaker 1: you get there, telling yourself but first this, we'll keep
Speaker 1: you going just a little bit more. Anyone who set
Speaker 1: exercise goals is familiar with the idea of pushing in
Speaker 1: the face of a little discomfort. If you're running a
Speaker 1: half marathon and you're tired at mile eleven, well you
Speaker 1: don't sit down on the curb or head over to
Speaker 1: a nearby restaurant. Somehow you pace yourself to get through
Speaker 1: to the end. Most people who lift weights won't stop
Speaker 1: at rep eleven. They'll somehow push to twelve. And yet
Speaker 1: in many cases we don't feel the same urge toward
Speaker 1: a natural stopping point with other kinds of work that
Speaker 1: bookcases assembled. But we hit a tricky part and well,
Speaker 1: is it time to go grab a cup of coffee?
Speaker 1: I could have a podcast script for this show or
Speaker 1: the New Corner Office almost written, and get stuck on
Speaker 1: the closing and go check my email. I bet you
Speaker 1: can recall when you've also stopped in the middle of
Speaker 1: a task. For those of us who work at computers,
Speaker 1: what usually happens is that we're deep in a project
Speaker 1: and then hit a roadblock, something is challenging, or we
Speaker 1: briefly get knocked out of a state of flow. We
Speaker 1: could keep going, pushing through the challenge until we hit
Speaker 1: a natural stopping point, but it's so tempting to just
Speaker 1: check email instead, ease off the pressure, just see what's there.
Speaker 1: Except here's the problem. That roadblock, it's still there, and
Speaker 1: when you go back to it, because of course eventually
Speaker 1: you do have to go back to it, you're starting
Speaker 1: from zero, whereas before you had a running start, it's
Speaker 1: not going to be easier to deal with Now it
Speaker 1: will probably be harder. You'll have to get back into
Speaker 1: the project, figure out where you were, regain momentum, and
Speaker 1: then tackle the issue. It's often better to persist just
Speaker 1: a little longer and then take a brain break. Instead
Speaker 1: of switching gears as soon as work gets hard, try
Speaker 1: telling yourself. But first this you don't have to resist
Speaker 1: checking email or headlines, or getting a glass of water
Speaker 1: or whatever you do when your mind needs a rest.
Speaker 1: Just delay your mental break until you've finished writing the
Speaker 1: next paragraph, responding to the final question in your client's email,
Speaker 1: or whatever the challenging task, complete the next step. That way,
Speaker 1: you'll maintain momentum and get more done. This is a
Speaker 1: much better option than giving up, even unintentionally, every time
Speaker 1: something gets hard. You may find that by the time
Speaker 1: you finished writing the next paragraph for creating the next slide,
Speaker 1: you're able to keep going, even beyond the spot where
Speaker 1: you gave yourself permission to stop. But even if not,
Speaker 1: when you take your break, you'll have a ready spot
Speaker 1: to come back to. Getting back in the groove won't
Speaker 1: be quite so hard. So today, if you find yourself
Speaker 1: tempted to check email when the going gets rough, persist
Speaker 1: just a little longer. First get to a natural stopping point.
Speaker 1: But first this, you may be surprised at just how
Speaker 1: far you go. In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.