1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning. 2 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: tip is that there will be time to clear the 4 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: decks later. Don't try to finish all the little things 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: before starting in on a big project. You can trust 6 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: that you will have time to get to everything if 7 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: you go in the right order. Last week I shared 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: a tip about mapping out your focused work time on 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: a recent week. Knowing I had carved out eight fifteen 10 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 1: am to two forty five pm on Thursday for a 11 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:47,239 Speaker 1: big project made this time seem real and made me 12 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: more motivated to protect it. It also kept me from 13 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: feeling too unhappy about seeing my afternoon chopped up to 14 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: do some required driving for the camp schedule. I think 15 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: seeing the actual deep work time that is available can 16 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: help lots of people. It may not be six and 17 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: a half hours, but it is probably something. Of course, 18 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: when I talk about this, people ask, well, when are 19 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,479 Speaker 1: you supposed to do all the other things you need 20 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: to do on a day like that? And when do 21 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: you deal with the things that come up during the day. 22 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: Good questions, but here's what I promise. If you do 23 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: the big stuff first, there will be time to clear 24 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: the decks later if you start with all the other 25 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: stuff though during your open time. That is, if you 26 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: try to clear the decks first, it's quite possible that 27 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: you won't get to the big things, or at least 28 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: won't have as much time for the big things, And 29 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: given how hard it is to come by open time, 30 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: that would be a shame. In my case on that 31 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: particular Thursday, what I did is that I knew the 32 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: emails and tasks were going to be stacking up. But 33 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: when I came back from camp driving at three thirty PM, 34 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: I was able to spend about ninety minutes dealing with 35 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: all those things amid the various interruptions that kept happening. 36 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: That was okay, those tasks didn't require intense focus. By 37 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: using that chopped up time, I didn't need to sacrifice 38 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: my deep work time, thinking that was more responsible. If 39 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: I had used ninety minutes of my deep work time 40 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: for the little stuff, though, I would have had ninety 41 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: minutes less of deep work time, and I probably would 42 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: still have had a lot of small to dos to 43 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: deal with later. Because my general sense is that administrative 44 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: tasks expand to fill the available space I was still 45 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: going to have to answer emails, whether I had done 46 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: that before or hadn't. I think it's still wise to 47 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: wait to clear the decks, even if you generally do 48 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: need to be quite responsible in your job. You might 49 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: be able to quickly scan email or other messages for 50 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: emergencies once every hour or so, but tell yourself you 51 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: won't deal with anything that isn't an emergency until after 52 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: your big projects and focused work time is over. I 53 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: bet if you take thirty to forty five minutes before 54 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: lunch and an hour at the end of the day, 55 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: you will be able to get through most of your list, 56 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: and you will have had the benefit of giving yourself 57 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: any available thinking space. Now for some tough talk. Why 58 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: do we sometimes think we need to clear the decks 59 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: first before we get to our focused work. People might 60 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,519 Speaker 1: think they are being responsible by doing everything else first, 61 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: but to be honest, I think it's often that the 62 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: lure of easy wins is so strong. If you've got 63 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: five things on your to do list and one is large, 64 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: and we'll take several hours and four are short, it 65 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: is so tempting to do those four easy things first. 66 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: And who knows, I mean, maybe those wins will be motivational. 67 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: But sometimes those tasks turned out to be longer than 68 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: we thought, or they lead to other things and we 69 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: get distracted, or we feel like we've done something and 70 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: so we don't do the big thing because hey, haven't 71 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: we done enough already today? If you clear the decks later, though, 72 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: I promise there will be time and then you truly 73 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: will get through everything. Often the little things can be 74 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: done in crevices of time or in interrupted time. Big 75 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: things not so much. So it's important to keep this 76 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: in mind in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, 77 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks 78 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,160 Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, 79 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura 80 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Meatia. 81 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, 82 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.