WEBVTT - What's the tax on your time?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to remember that almost every activity or project

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<v Speaker 1>involves a little bit of planning or administrative time. There's

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<v Speaker 1>really nothing wrong with that, but it is important to

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<v Speaker 1>recognize this tax on your time so you can organize

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<v Speaker 1>your life efficiently. This episode is first airing on April fifteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>which has historically been Tax Day in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>the day when people's tax returns from the previous year

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<v Speaker 1>are due. I know a great many people file earlier

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<v Speaker 1>if they are expecting a refund, A great many other

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<v Speaker 1>folks file a six month extension, but April fifteenth is

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<v Speaker 1>at least the day people are most likely to think

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<v Speaker 1>about paying taxes. I think a lot of us can

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<v Speaker 1>hold two thoughts in mind simultaneously. First, that taxes are

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<v Speaker 1>necessary to pay for an orderly society with schools and

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<v Speaker 1>roads and emergency responders. That's all good. Second, we don't

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<v Speaker 1>want to pay more than we need to, so we

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<v Speaker 1>take advantage of things like tax advantage retirement accounts, and

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<v Speaker 1>it turns out that we pay a tax of sorts

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<v Speaker 1>with our time too. Any project you undertake is going

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<v Speaker 1>to have some planning or administrative component. If you take

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<v Speaker 1>a vacation, someone needs to plan it and purchase tickets

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<v Speaker 1>and find a dog sitter and things like that. Even

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<v Speaker 1>if you outsource a lot of the logistics by hiring

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<v Speaker 1>a travel agent, you'll want to talk to that person

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<v Speaker 1>about what you like and your budget and things like that.

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<v Speaker 1>Plus you have to find that person. Every work project

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<v Speaker 1>involves at least a few meetings or filing reports or

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<v Speaker 1>making presentations. Again, there's nothing wrong with this. Tax taxes

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<v Speaker 1>are necessary, But once you acknowledge that every project has

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<v Speaker 1>a tax of sorts and that your time is absolutely limited,

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<v Speaker 1>then you start to see that there are more or

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<v Speaker 1>less efficient ways to organize life. If you have a

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<v Speaker 1>great many projects going at once, you will be paying

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<v Speaker 1>that administrative tax on all of them, and it can

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<v Speaker 1>start to feel like paying taxes is all you are doing.

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<v Speaker 1>Limit the number of projects you have going on and

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<v Speaker 1>any given time, on the other hand, and you can

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<v Speaker 1>limit the administrative time as an overall proportion of your hours. So,

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<v Speaker 1>for instance, let's just say you've got five going at

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<v Speaker 1>work that you are flitting back and forth between every

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<v Speaker 1>one of those projects requires two hours of administrative time

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<v Speaker 1>per week, so that is ten hours per week of

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<v Speaker 1>this time tax. If you've got three projects going, on

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<v Speaker 1>the other hand, then that is only six hours of tax,

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<v Speaker 1>which frees up half a day for making progress on

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<v Speaker 1>the projects themselves. Now, maybe it is not possible to

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<v Speaker 1>limit the overall number of projects. But what I often

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<v Speaker 1>see happen is that people are working on five things

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<v Speaker 1>that are due over the next two months. Maybe it

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<v Speaker 1>might be possible to work on three things, finish them

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<v Speaker 1>in one month, and then take on three projects the

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<v Speaker 1>next month too. Then you have cut the overall administrative

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<v Speaker 1>tax and you have gotten more done. This is one

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<v Speaker 1>reason I like to set quarterly goals for the year.

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<v Speaker 1>I might know that I want to work on a

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<v Speaker 1>particular project, but I also know that I won't be

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<v Speaker 1>starting it until Q three. That's fine. I can know

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<v Speaker 1>it will happen and know I will concentrate on it then,

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<v Speaker 1>but not incur the administrative tax on my time any earlier. Now, obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>we can't always control the total number of moving parts

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<v Speaker 1>in life, nor do we choose to. I have five children,

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<v Speaker 1>and they all require their own tax on my time,

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<v Speaker 1>so to speak. One I pay willingly. I simply have

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<v Speaker 1>to acknowledge that, no matter how efficient I am, arranging

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<v Speaker 1>activities and dealing with medical needs and such for five

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<v Speaker 1>kids will take more time than if I had one

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<v Speaker 1>or two. So it goes. I also like to do

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<v Speaker 1>varied things in my working life. That means my administrative

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<v Speaker 1>tax is going to be a little higher than it

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<v Speaker 1>could be. But in general, rather than spend a little

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<v Speaker 1>less time on more things, it might be better to

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<v Speaker 1>spend more time on fewer things and then start the

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<v Speaker 1>next project when one of the current ones is done.

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<v Speaker 1>The projects may take as long as they take, so

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<v Speaker 1>you probably won't change how many you are getting done overall,

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<v Speaker 1>but doing fewer at once limits the administrative tax on

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<v Speaker 1>your time, and that can make life feel a little

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<v Speaker 1>less crunched in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

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<v Speaker 1>vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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