Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to pair a head task and a body task.
Speaker 1: If you are trying to maximize your efficiency, this lets
Speaker 1: you do mental and physical work at the same time.
Speaker 1: Call it a nice form of multitasking. One of the
Speaker 1: rare forms that actually works. Today's tip comes from Kristin,
Speaker 1: known to her myriad blog readers as the Frugal Girl.
Speaker 1: When I interviewed Kristin for this podcast a few months ago,
Speaker 1: she described some of the productivity strategies she used to
Speaker 1: make it through nursing school, all while maintaining an active
Speaker 1: blog and parenting too. N One was to pair a
Speaker 1: head task with a body task. Kristin explained that she
Speaker 1: would listen to content about nursing while doing physical life
Speaker 1: maintenance tasks. So, for instance, she might listen to a
Speaker 1: chapter of an audio textbook or a nursing podcast while
Speaker 1: folding clothes, prepping dinner, or cleaning. Pairing a head task
Speaker 1: with a body task is a great idea if you
Speaker 1: are a student who needs to get through a lot
Speaker 1: of content, but it can work for other people too.
Speaker 1: Lots of verbal experiences can be successfully paired with physical
Speaker 1: experiences without really losing capacity for either. During a camera's
Speaker 1: off conference call for work, for instance, you might be
Speaker 1: able to fold clothes. You could chat with a friend
Speaker 1: on the phone while going for a walk. You could
Speaker 1: listen to a podcast while going for a run. You
Speaker 1: could listen to an audiobook while reading your garden. In
Speaker 1: deciding what tasks, to be sure that the physical task
Speaker 1: is quiet if anyone will be able to hear you.
Speaker 1: You probably don't want to be on a call with
Speaker 1: a friend while putting away dishes, for instance, if there's
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of clanging. You also want
Speaker 1: to be sure the physical task has low to no
Speaker 1: cognitive demands. If you are on an intense work call,
Speaker 1: you don't want to suddenly look up and realize that
Speaker 1: you have chopped way more onion than you meant to.
Speaker 1: Even swapping out your summer and fall clothes has more
Speaker 1: cognitive demand than might work for listening to, let's say
Speaker 1: an audio version of a textbook. You don't want to
Speaker 1: miss out on something that will be on a quiz
Speaker 1: because you're deliberating over whether you will actually wear your
Speaker 1: white jeans into the fall. In any case, it's well
Speaker 1: known that most multitasking doesn't work. Trying to answer emails
Speaker 1: while you are on a conference call means you are
Speaker 1: not listening to that call. Now maybe that doesn't really matter,
Speaker 1: but then why are you on the call in the
Speaker 1: first place. Better to bow out and give your full
Speaker 1: attention to the emails. As for texting while driving, this
Speaker 1: can also result in things going very badly, But in
Speaker 1: many cases, pairing a head task with a body task
Speaker 1: has actual benefits. Some people listen better when their hands
Speaker 1: are just occupied enough to keep them from fidgeting. Listening
Speaker 1: to something interesting can make exercise more interesting, and if
Speaker 1: it's something you have to listen to, that multitasking might
Speaker 1: make it possible to exercise in a way that wouldn't
Speaker 1: be possible if that time wasn't available. So try to
Speaker 1: pair head tasks with body tasks and you just might
Speaker 1: find life feeling a little more efficient. After all, Kristen
Speaker 1: finished nursing school with a four point zero, so that
Speaker 1: is a pretty good testimonial for her method. I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear your experiences if you pair head tasks and
Speaker 1: body tasks. What are the particular tasks and pairing strategies
Speaker 1: at work for you. You can reach me at Laura at
Speaker 1: Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.