WEBVTT - Just a few hours to good

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is that you might be just a few

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<v Speaker 1>hours from good. Even seemingly big problems can be a

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<v Speaker 1>lot closer to a solution with a few hours of

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<v Speaker 1>focused work. So put in those hours and you will

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<v Speaker 1>be surprised how far you've come. Longtime listeners know that

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<v Speaker 1>my family bought and is renovating a historic house in

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<v Speaker 1>our neighborhood. We are finally putting our current house on

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<v Speaker 1>the market. Our first ordeal of this listing process was

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<v Speaker 1>the real estate photos, getting the house presentable enough to

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<v Speaker 1>look nice in those photos that will be on Zillo

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<v Speaker 1>and everywhere else. We have lived in this house for

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<v Speaker 1>ten years, so let's just say there is a reasonable

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<v Speaker 1>amount of stuff in here. Kid toys, kid clothes, books,

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<v Speaker 1>old artwork. I will admit that I lacked the patients

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<v Speaker 1>to cull through everything. A lot of stuff wound up

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<v Speaker 1>in clear bins that we will store in the new

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<v Speaker 1>house's garage until we can get to them. However, with

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<v Speaker 1>this boxing up and clearing out, plus some good old

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<v Speaker 1>fashioned cleaning, we made a lot of progress in about

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<v Speaker 1>twenty household hours. Most of the rooms reached a state

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<v Speaker 1>where they were about two minutes away from being photographable.

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<v Speaker 1>We just had to clear out the unphotographable stuff of life,

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<v Speaker 1>like waste baskets, and they were good to go. I

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<v Speaker 1>suspect that a great many seemingly intractable projects are like that.

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<v Speaker 1>Organizing your digital photos seems like it could take I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know years, But what if you decided to devote

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<v Speaker 1>three hours to it over a weekend. What do you

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<v Speaker 1>think you could do? My guess it's quite a bit

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<v Speaker 1>same with clearing out the garage or weeding the yard.

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<v Speaker 1>You might not be done, but you would be a

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<v Speaker 1>lot closer to good with a few focused hours than

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<v Speaker 1>you had been before. Even really large projects might take

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<v Speaker 1>fewer hours than you imagine. Every November, thousands of people

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<v Speaker 1>participate in National Novel Writing Month, in which they write

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<v Speaker 1>a fifty word novel in thirty days. In general, people

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<v Speaker 1>devote too to three hours per day to this pursuit.

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<v Speaker 1>That comes out to six in November. In other words,

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<v Speaker 1>if you have an eye idea for a novel that

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<v Speaker 1>you've been kicking around, you might be only sixty to

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<v Speaker 1>nine hours to a first draft, not a great first draft,

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<v Speaker 1>but a draft, and then you can make that something

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<v Speaker 1>into something better. Training for a half marathon might involve

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<v Speaker 1>about five hours of running a week for twelve weeks.

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<v Speaker 1>That's just sixty hours to crossing your first major finish line.

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<v Speaker 1>In many situations we might be only a few hours

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<v Speaker 1>two good. Sometimes it is literally only a few hours,

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<v Speaker 1>and sometimes it is just a few hours a week

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<v Speaker 1>over a slightly longer period. But either way, big goals

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<v Speaker 1>are generally achievable in finite amounts of time. After all,

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<v Speaker 1>other people have done them in finite amounts of time,

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<v Speaker 1>So why not you think about what a few focused

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<v Speaker 1>hours could do for you and your projects, and then

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<v Speaker 1>make those focused hours happen. Your closets might look a

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<v Speaker 1>lot better than before. In the meantime. This is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an

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<v Speaker 1>email at Before Breakfast Podcast at I hurt me da

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<v Speaker 1>dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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<v Speaker 1>the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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<v Speaker 1>in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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