1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:24,440 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to schedule cyclical plus linear time. Recurring 4 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: tasks like laundry and cooking meals do have to be done, 5 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: so you are wise to allocate time for them, But 6 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: if you don't dedicate other time to forward progress, you 7 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: won't reach your goals. It is good to find the 8 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: right balance. I have recently encountered some interesting research by 9 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: Anne Burnett about women and dizziness. One of the points 10 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: she makes is that women in particular tend to be 11 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: responsible for a lot of repetitive, cyclically recurring tasks in 12 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:04,039 Speaker 1: their house holds. Since these tasks always have to be done, 13 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: that contributes to the sense of dizziness. Of course, I 14 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: have plenty of male listeners who wind up doing a 15 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 1: great many of these tasks too. So let's just say 16 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: that I know a lot of people listening to this 17 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: are going to be spending their mornings getting kids dressed, 18 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:28,320 Speaker 1: cooking breakfast, packing lunches, unloading the dishwasher, walking the dog, 19 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: driving kids to school, filling cars with gas, cleaning up 20 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: the kitchen, watering plants, and other such things that are 21 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: never truly done. You do them once, and then soon 22 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: enough you have to do them all over again. And 23 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: all of these things do indeed need to happen. The 24 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: trouble is that, because they always do need to be done, 25 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: it can be easy to spend all of our time 26 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: on them. This is true for cyclical recurring work tasks 27 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: as well. You tell yourself you'll get to that big 28 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: speculative project once you have sent out the agenda for 29 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,959 Speaker 1: tomorrow's weekly check in meeting, and sent in this month's 30 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,639 Speaker 1: expense reports and so forth. But since these things will 31 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: all need to be done again soon enough, it is 32 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: hard to ever feel truly on top of them. If 33 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: you are waiting to feel free of these things to 34 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: start something big, you are going to be waiting for 35 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: a long time. So how do we escape this trap? 36 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: We can certainly spend less time on a great many 37 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: recurring tasks. We can share them with other people in 38 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: our households or our colleagues, or we can outsource some 39 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: of them. We can do them to a lesser standard, 40 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: think a rotisserie chicken plus a bagged salad for dinner. 41 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 1: Or you can just skip them. My bed doesn't get 42 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: made many a morning, I pull up the top blanket 43 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: and then I just make sure the pillows are where 44 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: I like them when I get back in at night. 45 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: But since cyclical tasks do need to be done to 46 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: some degree, my advice is to carve out time that 47 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: is specifically for them. Give recurring chores a window. Like 48 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: you do as many recurring work tasks as possible on 49 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: Friday morning from ten thirty to lunch. You give yourself 50 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: a chore window on weekends, maybe ninety minutes on a 51 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: Saturday afternoon to get through the most critical stuff. And 52 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: then this is key. You also carve out time specifically 53 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: for linear progress too. These are the things that move 54 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: your career or your personal life forward. Drafting a book proposal, 55 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: writing up a pitch for a new client, learning to 56 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: use software that is in demand in your field, starting 57 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: a neighborhood volunteering project. It designate time on your schedule 58 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: specifically for these linear tasks. I like Monday morning. It's 59 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: nice to start the week moving your career forward, or 60 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: if you're not working for pay, moving your other big 61 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: projects forward. You will get to the cyclical stuff during 62 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: the time designated for that. There is a time for that, 63 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: but now is not that time, So you don't need 64 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: to feel guilty for not doing your expense report on 65 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: Monday morning, that time is spoken for. Same with personal tasks. 66 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: Maybe you decide that Saturday morning is for a personal 67 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: linear time. That's when you train for your marathon or 68 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: organize the neighborhood association. When we designate time for tasks, 69 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: we tend to do them. We are going to do 70 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: the cyclical stuff for the most part because it has 71 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 1: to get done. You have to eat a again, you 72 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 1: need clean clothes. At some point. It is harder to 73 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: get to the linear stuff. But when we never do, 74 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,280 Speaker 1: we feel busy all the time, but like we are 75 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: not getting anywhere. Best to schedule time for both in 76 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's 77 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd 78 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips, 79 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, 80 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b the number 81 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: four than breakfast p o D. You can also shoot 82 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,919 Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media 83 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,600 Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all 84 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: the letter U. Thanks so much, I look forward to 85 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I 86 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 87 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 88 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.