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 that a little fun can give you a
Speaker 1: big boost during your workday, so create a ritual out
Speaker 1: of it in order to make the most of your time.
Speaker 1: During my recent Better Workday Challenge, a participant described routine
Speaker 1: she has for connecting with a colleague. She called it
Speaker 1: five minutes of fun, as in that was its official name.
Speaker 1: She explained that we share dumb internet memes or tell
Speaker 1: each other stories. How great is that the two of
Speaker 1: them have created a five minute mood booster that doesn't
Speaker 1: demand advanced planning and doesn't require that the stars be
Speaker 1: aligned perfectly. It just takes being aware of content to
Speaker 1: share that will make you and your colleague happy. I
Speaker 1: love the idea of making this time a thing by
Speaker 1: giving it an official name, in this case, five minutes
Speaker 1: of Fun. When the experience has a name, you recognize
Speaker 1: it as something special that is happening. It seems wise
Speaker 1: that the limited duration is built into the name too,
Speaker 1: as in five minutes of fun. There's no worry that
Speaker 1: you'll send one funny meme to your colleague and then
Speaker 1: realize an hour later that you haven't done any work
Speaker 1: since that first meme. You and your colleague have an
Speaker 1: explicit commitment that you will contain the playful interaction to
Speaker 1: five minutes. When you know that the five minutes of
Speaker 1: fun is coming, you may also stay on task more
Speaker 1: faithfully until then. In fact, the better Workday challenge participant
Speaker 1: who came up with five minutes of Fun said she
Speaker 1: saved up fun things until the appropriate time, rather than
Speaker 1: sharing them whenever she thought of them. If you are
Speaker 1: looking for connection, levity, or energy boosts in your workday,
Speaker 1: you could consider doing five minutes of fun with a
Speaker 1: colleague too. Or you could devise and name another break
Speaker 1: that provides whatever sort of change of pace you and
Speaker 1: your colleague need. Maybe it's five minutes of fitness and
Speaker 1: you power walk up and down the stairs. You could
Speaker 1: have the Grateful eight, or you meet up in the
Speaker 1: break room for eight minutes to reflect on what you
Speaker 1: are grateful for that day. You could do a mindfulness
Speaker 1: exercise and call it your mindful minutes. The two of
Speaker 1: you could take turns choosing the exercise and sending the
Speaker 1: other person the name of the exercise to look up
Speaker 1: at an app or a link to a YouTube video
Speaker 1: or written prompt to guide it. Even if you each
Speaker 1: did the exercise at your own desk and on your
Speaker 1: own time, you would still feel a sense of connection.
Speaker 1: So as you look ahead to next week, consider whether
Speaker 1: you might create some sort of ritual in your day
Speaker 1: to add a little levity. See who might be up
Speaker 1: for participating with you. Give the ritual a name, and
Speaker 1: you will be well on your way to enjoying work more.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows and