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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is that sometimes you can just declare the

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Speaker 1: day done. Not always. Sometimes we've got reserves left that

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Speaker 1: we can tap. But if things aren't working, you can

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Speaker 1: achieve a lot of peace by deciding to just try

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Speaker 1: again tomorrow. I love to write, but sometimes the words

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Speaker 1: come easier than others. A few years ago, when I

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Speaker 1: was writing a weekly column for a particular publication, I

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Speaker 1: needed to turn in my work on Fridays. I aimed

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Speaker 1: to be done on Wednesdays, but sometimes Wednesdays got away

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Speaker 1: from me. Then I wrote on Thursday. That was usually fine,

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Speaker 1: but I well remember one time when I just could

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Speaker 1: not make the piece work. I tried different openings. I

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Speaker 1: tried all my tricks, like writing the thesis statement and

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Speaker 1: working from there, or writing the last paragraph. First. I

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Speaker 1: did that and then realized that the last paragraph was terrible. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: hours were burning away and I was getting nowhere. Finally

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Speaker 1: I realized that I just couldn't do it, at least

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Speaker 1: not then I was done working. I stopped and read

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Speaker 1: for the last half hour before I had to take

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Speaker 1: over kid duties. I made some space on Friday morning

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Speaker 1: to try again, and after sixteen hours away from the piece,

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Speaker 1: I figured out something else I could do. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: exactly prize winning, but it got done and I didn't

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Speaker 1: spend sixteen hours banging my head against the wall. Perseverance

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Speaker 1: is great. I am a big fan of perseverance in general.

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Speaker 1: In life. I think people give up way too early.

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Speaker 1: But here's the problem with how this plays out. On

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Speaker 1: certain projects. You can see quite clearly that you aren't

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Speaker 1: making progress, but as a productive and conscientious person, you

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Speaker 1: feel guilty about stopping, so you don't and you just

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Speaker 1: keep wasting time. You won't relax, but you also won't

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Speaker 1: get anything done either. This is really the worst of

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Speaker 1: all worlds. So here's an idea. If you can't stop

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Speaker 1: spinning your wheels, then just declare the day done. When

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Speaker 1: you declare the day done, you can give yourself permission

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Speaker 1: to stop working. You can go do something fun without

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Speaker 1: feeling bad about it. You might even consciously consider this

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Speaker 1: to be flex time. You are ending the work day

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Speaker 1: an hour early today, and you will start an hour

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Speaker 1: early tomorrow. Since most people are more focused and have

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Speaker 1: more energy in the morning, you will probably show up

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Speaker 1: on fire and solve whatever problem eluded you in the

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Speaker 1: late afternoon. Now, of course, you have to be careful

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Speaker 1: about this. Declaring the day done isn't the same as

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Speaker 1: giving up when you aren't making progress on something. Identify

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Speaker 1: a new time in your schedule when you can tackle

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Speaker 1: the problem. If there isn't a time, well you better

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Speaker 1: use the time that you originally allocated. We can do

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Speaker 1: amazing things if our incentives are right. Maybe right now

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Speaker 1: you are finding it impossible to craft an incisive memo.

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Speaker 1: But if someone showed up and offered you one thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars to turn that memo around in two hours, you

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Speaker 1: would probably do it. You'd find inner reserves that you

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Speaker 1: didn't know you had. It's not that you can't write

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Speaker 1: the memo. It's just that right now you don't want to.

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Speaker 1: And you know what, that can be all right, as

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Speaker 1: long as you have started enough ahead of your deadline

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Speaker 1: that you've got the time. You can flex this time

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Speaker 1: to take advantage of energy peaks and valleys. Give it

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Speaker 1: a good shot. But if you just can't get something

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Speaker 1: to work, go ahead and declare the day done. Go

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Speaker 1: do something to relax and take your mind off the problem.

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Speaker 1: My guess is that by giving it some space you

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Speaker 1: will actually come up with a solution, which means that

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Speaker 1: declaring the day done might have been productive after all,

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Speaker 1: it will definitely be more fun in the meantime. This

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Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i

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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Four