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 to do whatever you want after you
Speaker 1: complete you must do. So it is amazing how much
Speaker 1: stuff we can come up with to do when we
Speaker 1: are avoiding something else. Plenty of hard working people clean
Speaker 1: out their inboxes, reorganize their files, update their calendars, or
Speaker 1: throw themselves into administrative tasks as seemingly legitimate work when
Speaker 1: they're trying to push off a challenging project. Of course,
Speaker 1: we all know it's a bad idea to delay what's
Speaker 1: most important. Even if we procrastinate by filling our time
Speaker 1: with work tasks like filing or processing email, we all
Speaker 1: know that we just need to eat that frog. As
Speaker 1: the saying goes, do right away. It's hard and perhaps unpleasant,
Speaker 1: but essential. Still, despite knowing better, we often delay the
Speaker 1: must do while doing the not so important stuff. Human
Speaker 1: nature right, But today I want to offer you an
Speaker 1: additional mental incentive. You can give yourself to simply do
Speaker 1: your must do first thing. Once you've done it, you
Speaker 1: can do whatever you want. In other words, if your
Speaker 1: top priority for this morning is to draft an article
Speaker 1: for the monthly newsletter, write it, then do whatever you
Speaker 1: want for the rest of the morning. You could process
Speaker 1: email or file or clean off your hard drive. Those
Speaker 1: tasks you would have done as you delayed the big thing,
Speaker 1: but since those are basically just time wasters, you could
Speaker 1: also read an industry publication or call a colleague to
Speaker 1: brainstorm ideas for a project that excites you, or watch
Speaker 1: a webinar on a topic you want to learn more about.
Speaker 1: Depending on the norms at your organization, you might even
Speaker 1: be able to go for a long walkouts side, or
Speaker 1: make a quick trip to a nearby museum, or take
Speaker 1: a longer lunch. When your choices are to clean off
Speaker 1: your hard drive or collaborate with a colleague on an
Speaker 1: engaging project, it's pretty clear what you should choose. But
Speaker 1: when you do the unimportant clerical tasks first to delay
Speaker 1: your must do, you essentially are choosing to do these
Speaker 1: boring tasks instead of something more rewarding, because if you
Speaker 1: spend half the morning on insignificant tasks and only then
Speaker 1: write the article, there's no time left for the more
Speaker 1: engaging and valuable tasks once that article is done. If
Speaker 1: you do your must do first, then the rest of
Speaker 1: the morning is free for you to use and whatever
Speaker 1: way you choose, and that probably won't be non essential
Speaker 1: clerical work. This principle holds for home and life maintenance
Speaker 1: work too. Plenty of people have put off doing their
Speaker 1: income taxes by reorganizing their sock drawers or their spice racks.
Speaker 1: But how many people have reorganized their sock drawers after
Speaker 1: getting their taxes done? Not many. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: gather your tax materials first and do what you need
Speaker 1: to do, and then you really want to organize your
Speaker 1: sock drawer, fine, But I suspect you'd rather have a
Speaker 1: glass of wine with your partner, or meet up with
Speaker 1: a friend for coffee, or take the dog for a walk,
Speaker 1: and probably you will do those things instead. So the
Speaker 1: next time you have an important and challenging project designated
Speaker 1: for a day or half day, instead of delaying the
Speaker 1: project by immersing yourself in unnecessary or at least non
Speaker 1: urgent little tasks, instead tell yourself this you can do
Speaker 1: whatever you want after you finished the project. This has
Speaker 1: two implications. First, you'll do the important work without delay
Speaker 1: or handwringing. And what's first in priority is wise to
Speaker 1: put first in sequence second, when you're finished with the
Speaker 1: important project, you get to do whatever you want. You'll
Speaker 1: give your best to your must do and you'll have
Speaker 1: time available for we want to do. That is a
Speaker 1: double win. 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 heart 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 pod tests
Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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