WEBVTT - Clear the decks later

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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 that there will be time to clear the

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<v Speaker 1>decks later. Don't try to finish all the little things

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<v Speaker 1>before starting in on a big project. You can trust

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<v Speaker 1>that you will have time to get to everything if

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<v Speaker 1>you go in the right order. Last week I shared

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<v Speaker 1>a tip about mapping out your focused work time on

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<v Speaker 1>a recent week. Knowing I had carved out eight fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>am to two forty five pm on Thursday for a

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<v Speaker 1>big project made this time seem real and made me

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<v Speaker 1>more motivated to protect it. It also kept me from

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<v Speaker 1>feeling too unhappy about seeing my afternoon chopped up to

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<v Speaker 1>do some required driving for the camp schedule. I think

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<v Speaker 1>seeing the actual deep work time that is available can

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<v Speaker 1>help lots of people. It may not be six and

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<v Speaker 1>a half hours, but it is probably something. Of course,

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<v Speaker 1>when I talk about this, people ask, well, when are

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<v Speaker 1>you supposed to do all the other things you need

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<v Speaker 1>to do on a day like that? And when do

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<v Speaker 1>you deal with the things that come up during the day.

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<v Speaker 1>Good questions, but here's what I promise. If you do

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<v Speaker 1>the big stuff first, there will be time to clear

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<v Speaker 1>the decks later if you start with all the other

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<v Speaker 1>stuff though during your open time. That is, if you

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<v Speaker 1>try to clear the decks first, it's quite possible that

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<v Speaker 1>you won't get to the big things, or at least

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<v Speaker 1>won't have as much time for the big things, And

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<v Speaker 1>given how hard it is to come by open time,

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<v Speaker 1>that would be a shame. In my case on that

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<v Speaker 1>particular Thursday, what I did is that I knew the

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<v Speaker 1>emails and tasks were going to be stacking up. But

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<v Speaker 1>when I came back from camp driving at three thirty PM,

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<v Speaker 1>I was able to spend about ninety minutes dealing with

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<v Speaker 1>all those things amid the various interruptions that kept happening.

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<v Speaker 1>That was okay, those tasks didn't require intense focus. By

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<v Speaker 1>using that chopped up time, I didn't need to sacrifice

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<v Speaker 1>my deep work time, thinking that was more responsible. If

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<v Speaker 1>I had used ninety minutes of my deep work time

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<v Speaker 1>for the little stuff, though, I would have had ninety

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<v Speaker 1>minutes less of deep work time, and I probably would

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<v Speaker 1>still have had a lot of small to dos to

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<v Speaker 1>deal with later. Because my general sense is that administrative

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<v Speaker 1>tasks expand to fill the available space I was still

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<v Speaker 1>going to have to answer emails, whether I had done

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<v Speaker 1>that before or hadn't. I think it's still wise to

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<v Speaker 1>wait to clear the decks, even if you generally do

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<v Speaker 1>need to be quite responsible in your job. You might

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<v Speaker 1>be able to quickly scan email or other messages for

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<v Speaker 1>emergencies once every hour or so, but tell yourself you

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<v Speaker 1>won't deal with anything that isn't an emergency until after

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<v Speaker 1>your big projects and focused work time is over. I

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<v Speaker 1>bet if you take thirty to forty five minutes before

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<v Speaker 1>lunch and an hour at the end of the day,

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<v Speaker 1>you will be able to get through most of your list,

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<v Speaker 1>and you will have had the benefit of giving yourself

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<v Speaker 1>any available thinking space. Now for some tough talk. Why

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<v Speaker 1>do we sometimes think we need to clear the decks

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<v Speaker 1>first before we get to our focused work. People might

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<v Speaker 1>think they are being responsible by doing everything else first,

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<v Speaker 1>but to be honest, I think it's often that the

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<v Speaker 1>lure of easy wins is so strong. If you've got

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<v Speaker 1>five things on your to do list and one is large,

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<v Speaker 1>and we'll take several hours and four are short, it

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<v Speaker 1>is so tempting to do those four easy things first.

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<v Speaker 1>And who knows, I mean, maybe those wins will be motivational.

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<v Speaker 1>But sometimes those tasks turned out to be longer than

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<v Speaker 1>we thought, or they lead to other things and we

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<v Speaker 1>get distracted, or we feel like we've done something and

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<v Speaker 1>so we don't do the big thing because hey, haven't

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<v Speaker 1>we done enough already today? If you clear the decks later, though,

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<v Speaker 1>I promise there will be time and then you truly

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<v Speaker 1>will get through everything. Often the little things can be

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<v Speaker 1>done in crevices of time or in interrupted time. Big

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<v Speaker 1>things not so much. So it's important to keep this

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<v Speaker 1>in mind 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 iHeart Meatia.

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