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 about a mindset shift that can help
Speaker 1: you rethink your weeks and the whole concept of work
Speaker 1: life balance. Many years ago, when I first had people
Speaker 1: track their time, I realized that I needed to design
Speaker 1: a workable spreadsheet that I could use for my research.
Speaker 1: I elected to put the days of the week across
Speaker 1: the top, Monday to Sunday, and then half hour blocks
Speaker 1: down the left hand side. To make sure the time
Speaker 1: log captured the way people think about their days. I
Speaker 1: had the half hour blocks start at five am and
Speaker 1: go to four thirty am. If you haven't had your
Speaker 1: coffee yet. I know it's a little early to be
Speaker 1: talking about spreadsheets, so don't worry. You don't really need
Speaker 1: the exact dimensions. All this means is that on my
Speaker 1: time logs, the week starts Monday at five am. I
Speaker 1: think Monday at five am is a defensible starting point
Speaker 1: for the week. Anyway, This time log represents the hundred
Speaker 1: sixty eight hour week, and I soon noticed something when
Speaker 1: I had filled out several days representing what seemed like
Speaker 1: a lot of time up to Thursday. At five pm,
Speaker 1: the end of the day, half the spreadsheet was still blank.
Speaker 1: In other words, if your week starts at five am Monday,
Speaker 1: then five pm Thursday is the midpoint of the week. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I'd always thought of
Speaker 1: five pm Thursday is sounding like the end of the week.
Speaker 1: But it isn't. It's the exact halfway mark. If I
Speaker 1: put a pin in my time log at around five
Speaker 1: pm Thursday, it would balance there's just as much time
Speaker 1: after as there is before. Now. To be sure, for
Speaker 1: most people, there are a few more hours devoted to
Speaker 1: sleep in the second half of the week, but it's
Speaker 1: not as much of a difference as you might think.
Speaker 1: I ran the calculation recently with a thirty bedtime and
Speaker 1: a daily six am wake up, and the midpoint for
Speaker 1: waking hours still fell in the afternoon on Thursday. It
Speaker 1: wasn't anywhere close to Wednesday. The reason this matters is
Speaker 1: we have a tendency to discount time that doesn't happen
Speaker 1: Monday to end of day Thursday. A consultant who flies
Speaker 1: to client sites Monday morning and flies home Thursday afternoon
Speaker 1: might speak of traveling all the time. But this is
Speaker 1: not all the time, it's only about half of the time.
Speaker 1: Someone who logs long hours in the beginning of the
Speaker 1: week might talk of never being home in the evening,
Speaker 1: but if he's home in the evening Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Speaker 1: and Sunday, that's actually over half the week. He's there
Speaker 1: more nights than he's not. Your work life balance is
Speaker 1: probably pretty work heavy Monday through end of day Thursday,
Speaker 1: but it's probably pretty life heavy in the second half
Speaker 1: of the week. Indeed, it's possible these two balances start
Speaker 1: to balance each other out. What I love about this
Speaker 1: realization is that this mindset helps us honor the weekend.
Speaker 1: If Wednesday is the hump day of the week, then
Speaker 1: the weekend is an afterthought. It's two days tacked on
Speaker 1: to the end of the real days. But when Thursday
Speaker 1: is the midpoint of the week, we see that Friday, Saturday,
Speaker 1: and Sunday are real days too. They represent a big
Speaker 1: chunk of our time. I know the shift has helped
Speaker 1: me take my weekends more seriously. It's encouraged me to
Speaker 1: think through what I'd like to do and at least
Speaker 1: attempt to deal with the logistics. Knowing where the real
Speaker 1: midpoint of the week. Lies helps us appreciate time in
Speaker 1: all its fullness. So how will you celebrate Thursday, the
Speaker 1: real midpoint of the week. Let's all try to remember
Speaker 1: to raise a toast to all the time that's yet
Speaker 1: to come. In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: 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.