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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: This week we've been talking about tips from Gretchen Reuben,

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Speaker 1: a friend of this podcast who's also the co host

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Speaker 1: of the podcast Happier. Her most recent book, Outer Order

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Speaker 1: inter Calm, has all kinds of tips for creating a

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Speaker 1: more tranquil space, schedule, and life. Today's tip from Gretchen

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Speaker 1: is to beware that little gremlin known as procrastic clearing. Sometimes,

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Speaker 1: Gretchen tells us, I get the very strong urge to

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Speaker 1: clear clutter, not from the true desire for outer order,

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Speaker 1: but from the desire to delay work on some unpleasant task.

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Speaker 1: Those crowded shelves in my office had never bothered me,

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Speaker 1: but now that it's time to face a tough assignment,

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Speaker 1: I'm convinced that nothing can possibly get accomplished until I've

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Speaker 1: dealt with those shelves. So she procrastinates meaningful work by

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Speaker 1: doing something that seems productive but isn't necessarily in the

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Speaker 1: grand scheme of things. Yes, she says, creating order can

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Speaker 1: clear our minds, release energy, and help us prepare to

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Speaker 1: tackle big tasks. But we need to be sure that

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Speaker 1: clutter clearing isn't an excuse to postpone work on something

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Speaker 1: that's more important. There's a real difference between helpful preparation

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Speaker 1: and unhelpful procrastination. It's a secret of adulthood. Working such

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Speaker 1: as clutter clearing is one of the most dangerous forms

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Speaker 1: of procrastination. Of course, the real devil isn't knowing the difference.

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Speaker 1: So this is Laura here. If you're wondering if you're

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Speaker 1: indulging in procrastic clearing, try assigning yourself an hour or

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Speaker 1: two on your main project. First. Yes, of course you'll

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Speaker 1: get to those cluttered shelves, but first you can make

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Speaker 1: two phone calls and write an outline related to your

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Speaker 1: big project. The shelves will still be there and will

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Speaker 1: still benefit from the cleanup. You're just moving it two

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Speaker 1: hours into the future, then two hours later. See how

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Speaker 1: you feel. If the urge to clean passes once you

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Speaker 1: realize you're making serious progress on your project, you can

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Speaker 1: either abandon the shelf clearing project or do it at

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Speaker 1: some low energy time when you need a break. I

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Speaker 1: find the five to ten minutes while I'm waiting for

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Speaker 1: a conference call to start are great for that sort

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Speaker 1: of thing. But if after a solid hour or two,

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Speaker 1: you feel like it would help matters if you clean

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Speaker 1: the shelves, then go for it. Still, do yourself a

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Speaker 1: favor and set a timer for however long you think

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Speaker 1: would be reasonable. Limiting the time available for cleaning forces

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Speaker 1: you to prioritize and keeps you from putting off the

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Speaker 1: rest of your work indefinitely. Do you engage in what

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Speaker 1: Gretchen calls procrest to clearing. Maybe you have a very

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Speaker 1: well organized spice rack because of it, or maybe you're

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Speaker 1: the sort of person who really can't get anything done

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Speaker 1: about cleaning your shelves. If so, you can let me

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Speaker 1: know at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com.

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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. H