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 efficiency isn't everything. Even if there is
Speaker 1: a task that could be done cheaply by someone else,
Speaker 1: or that theoretically could take less time, if you enjoy it,
Speaker 1: feel free to keep doing it, at least some of
Speaker 1: the time. The endpoint of efficiency is freeing up time
Speaker 1: for tasks you enjoy. If you are already at that
Speaker 1: enjoyment step, you are winning at life. So I have
Speaker 1: been reading various books lately on how entrepreneurs can free
Speaker 1: up time. Many entrepreneurs work very long hours because they
Speaker 1: are tackling everything in their businesses. That can be a
Speaker 1: problem if people want to eat and sleep and see
Speaker 1: their families. I have certainly pondered which tasks I can
Speaker 1: get off my plate. I have delegated a great deal
Speaker 1: in my business and in my personal life. However, as
Speaker 1: I think about this question, I realize that there are
Speaker 1: some things I don't want to take off my plate,
Speaker 1: even if I can see the argument for doing so.
Speaker 1: For instance, I love to hear from readers and listeners
Speaker 1: if someone has taken the time to read my work
Speaker 1: or listen to my work, and has written me their
Speaker 1: thoughts about it. I want to acknowledge that. I want
Speaker 1: to share my follow up ideas and hear what the
Speaker 1: person thinks about those as well. So I read all
Speaker 1: the messages I get from readers and listensteners, and I
Speaker 1: respond to about ninety percent of them. Sometimes this can
Speaker 1: be time consuming. I recently ran a time tracking challenge
Speaker 1: where several thousand people kept track of their time for
Speaker 1: a week. Many of those folks then sent me their
Speaker 1: time logs afterwards with thoughts on their schedules and their lives.
Speaker 1: Studying these time logs and responding to people's questions and
Speaker 1: discoveries took at least an hour a day for several weeks.
Speaker 1: It was pointed out to me somewhere in here that
Speaker 1: I could have created some automatic responses or response templates,
Speaker 1: or had somebody else helped me go through all this,
Speaker 1: which is totally true. But I love learning about time.
Speaker 1: I love seeing how people spend their time. I like
Speaker 1: digging through the data so I really understand the choices
Speaker 1: that people make. So even if this did take a
Speaker 1: lot of time, I was glad to do it. Other
Speaker 1: people might make different choices, but reading and responding to
Speaker 1: my own messages works for me. Perhaps you, likewise, have
Speaker 1: certain work tasks that you enjoy, even if they are
Speaker 1: not necessarily the core of your job. Maybe you are
Speaker 1: mostly in management, but you enjoy using your technical skills
Speaker 1: from time to time. Maybe you are mostly acquiring new
Speaker 1: book projects, but you still like editing a few on occasion.
Speaker 1: You are mostly designing menus or training restaurant managers, but
Speaker 1: you enjoy hopping in during the dinner rush to help out.
Speaker 1: Or maybe there are tasks you do that you are
Speaker 1: well aware could be done quicker. I can crank out
Speaker 1: a blog post or newsletter quickly when I need to,
Speaker 1: but sometimes I enjoy carving out extra time, coming back
Speaker 1: to the work a few more times to tweak a
Speaker 1: phrase or add a new angle. Does anyone notice or care?
Speaker 1: Quite possibly not, But I enjoy it, so I do it.
Speaker 1: There is no need to go overboard on these things.
Speaker 1: We probably shouldn't spend all our time on lower value
Speaker 1: tasks when we are responsible for the higher value ones
Speaker 1: that pay the bills, but we don't need to offload
Speaker 1: them completely either, or do everything at the absolute swiftest
Speaker 1: speed efficiency isn't everything. It is a lot, but it
Speaker 1: isn't everything. Best to keep it in perspective. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number
Speaker 1: four then breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That
Speaker 1: before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
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