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Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,

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Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the

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Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more

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Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to cut

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Speaker 1: down on conference call multitasking. It is so easy to

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Speaker 1: try to do something else while on the phone, but

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Speaker 1: there are a few tricks that can help you pay

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Speaker 1: more attention, including by doing some other forms of multitasking

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Speaker 1: that still allow you to be mentally present. If you're

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Speaker 1: working from home these days, you're probably spending a lot

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Speaker 1: more time on the phone on your average conference call.

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Speaker 1: I'd bet that at least half the people who are

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Speaker 1: not talking are checking email or surfing the web. I

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Speaker 1: know I have been guilty of this, and I also

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Speaker 1: know that it won't turn out well. All of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: someone is asking, Hey, Laura, what did you think of

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Speaker 1: that idea? And I'm like, um, what idea. To be sure,

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Speaker 1: many conference calls drag on forever, and people do have

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Speaker 1: to check their email, but in general, if you can

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Speaker 1: check email while on a call, maybe you shouldn't be

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Speaker 1: on their call. If you should be on the call,

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Speaker 1: then you shouldn't be checking email simple as that. Still,

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Speaker 1: resisting temptation is hard, but there are a few things

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Speaker 1: you can do first Well, everyone is loving to hate

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Speaker 1: zoom calls. One big upside of video is that it's

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Speaker 1: hard to scroll around on your phone when everyone is

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Speaker 1: watching you do it. So when in doubt, make calls

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Speaker 1: into video calls. Everyone has the technology these days, so

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Speaker 1: it will be fine. If that's not happening. Find something

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Speaker 1: to do with your hands. A few listeners have suggested

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Speaker 1: doing some sort of needlework. It needs to be slightly

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Speaker 1: forgiving because you will stop and start, so a really

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Speaker 1: complicated knitting pattern might be a problem, but an all

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Speaker 1: red scarf could totally work. If you don't know how

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Speaker 1: to knit or do cross stitch, then start doodling. You

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Speaker 1: may be taking notes anyway, so you've already got pen

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Speaker 1: and paper, and adding little drawings to your notes will

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Speaker 1: occupy just enough of your excess energy during the call

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Speaker 1: that you won't pop into your inbox. And one last option,

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Speaker 1: go for a walk. Just as you might think of

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Speaker 1: doodling or crafting as taking excess energy out through your hands,

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Speaker 1: walking disperses it through your feet. Choose a day that's

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Speaker 1: not too windy, and if you're somewhere with a lot

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Speaker 1: of noise, make sure to mute yourself. But by seeing

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Speaker 1: the larger world, you'll keep yourself from the boredom that

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Speaker 1: leads to checking email. Plus it's pretty hard to check

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Speaker 1: email while walking. Really, I don't want anyone tripping over

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Speaker 1: a hole in the sidewalk. How do you Nick's conference

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Speaker 1: call multitasking? You can let me know at Laura at

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Speaker 1: Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's the succeeding in the New

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Speaker 1: Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of

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Speaker 1: M