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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I 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 to take the friendship challenge. By nudging

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Speaker 1: yourself to put more social time on the calendar, you

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Speaker 1: can start having a lot more to look forward to.

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Speaker 1: When I have people track their time, they are often

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Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised to see how much time they spend with

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Speaker 1: their children. Friends, on the other hand, are a different matter.

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Speaker 1: When people get busy with building careers and raising young families,

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Speaker 1: it can be hard to maintain, let alone start friendships adults.

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Speaker 1: Only time might be rationally spent with your spouse. Most

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Speaker 1: people do want to stay married, so friendships fall to

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Speaker 1: the bottom of the already list, and that is too

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Speaker 1: bad because maintaining friendships doesn't actually need to consume that

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Speaker 1: much time, or to put it in a slightly nicer way,

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Speaker 1: the payoff for even small bits of time can be

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Speaker 1: huge in terms of happiness. Consciously investing one to two

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Speaker 1: hours per week in adult friendships can change your narrative.

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Speaker 1: Life isn't a slog. Good things are happening. So here's

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Speaker 1: my challenge. Aim to put four get togethers with friends

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Speaker 1: on your calendar over the next thirty days. Here's how

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Speaker 1: it can work. Think about who you genuinely enjoy seeing

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Speaker 1: or at least enjoy talking to by phone or zoom

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Speaker 1: for far away friends. Look at your calendar for the

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Speaker 1: next thirty days, think about what might make sense. Then

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Speaker 1: start issuing invitations. Call or text people, and propose specific

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Speaker 1: times to get together. Indeed, you might best propose a

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Speaker 1: primary slot and a backup slot in case the first

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Speaker 1: one doesn't work. You know everybody is busy. These time

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Speaker 1: frames don't have to be the obvious ones, like Saturday night.

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Speaker 1: Saturday night can be complicated for people with young kids. Instead,

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Speaker 1: you could have people over with their families for a

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Speaker 1: casual Friday or Sunday dinner. You could meet a friend

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Speaker 1: for breakfast. You could meet up with a friend who

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Speaker 1: has similarly aged kids at a playground. You could go

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Speaker 1: run at six am some morning with a friend. You

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Speaker 1: could have lunch with a colleague you genuinely enjoy. You

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Speaker 1: could set up a post kid bedtime drink by zoom

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Speaker 1: with your old college roommate. The point is to get

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Speaker 1: at least four of these on the calendar. If you

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Speaker 1: already have some regular things like a monthly book club.

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Speaker 1: Great challenge yourself to add just a little bit more. Yes,

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Speaker 1: sometimes life intervenes, but if you put four things on

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Speaker 1: the calendar, the odds are reasonable that two or three

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Speaker 1: will happen. And having two to three cool things both

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Speaker 1: to look forward to and to enjoy as they are happening,

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Speaker 1: can change your entire perspective. I know life can be hard.

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Speaker 1: The news is depressing now as it almost always is,

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Speaker 1: but we can still find pockets of beauty. Taking the

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Speaker 1: friendship challenge can nudge that along. So start making plans

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Speaker 1: and get ready to enjoy the next thirty days a

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Speaker 1: lot more. I promise it will be worth the effort.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

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Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A Ye