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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: This week we've been talking about work and the broader

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Speaker 1: issues of how we feel about our jobs. Today's tip

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Speaker 1: is about one way to feel better about work walking

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Speaker 1: out the door at a reasonable hour, feeling satisfied and happy.

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Speaker 1: People who are paid by the hour need to be

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Speaker 1: at their workplaces at certain times, but even in offices

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Speaker 1: where almost everyone is salaried, there can be strong cultural

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Speaker 1: norms about what time it is acceptable to leave. If

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Speaker 1: someone leaves before that time, there can be a lot

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Speaker 1: of grumbling. You know how this goes? Oh, I wish

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Speaker 1: I could leave this early. I guess some of us

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Speaker 1: have to do all the work around here. The net

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Speaker 1: result is that people stick around doing nothing particularly productive,

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Speaker 1: but not leaving because they don't want to rock the boat.

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Speaker 1: I hope any managers listening to this podcast can make

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Speaker 1: clear that in their offices, people are accountable to you

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Speaker 1: for meeting their work objectives, and just as long as

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Speaker 1: people are meeting those objectives, you don't value sticking around

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Speaker 1: longer just because. But in any case, even if there

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Speaker 1: is some grumbling, you can still learn to walk out

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Speaker 1: on time feeling like you've put in a solid day. First,

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Speaker 1: plan your days well before you leave each evening. Write

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Speaker 1: down your intentions for the following day. What are your

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Speaker 1: three most important tasks. Look at what David Allen calls

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Speaker 1: the hardscape of your day, the time specific commitments you've

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Speaker 1: already agreed to. Where will you schedule your important tasks

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Speaker 1: around these commitments. Aim to do most of your important

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Speaker 1: tasks first thing in the day. Why well, stuff will

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Speaker 1: come up, but if you attack your priorities early, hopefully

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Speaker 1: you'll be done with them before the emergencies arise. Planning

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Speaker 1: ahead also allows us to schedule our most important work

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Speaker 1: for our most productive time and to plan for longer

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Speaker 1: blocks of focus. If you're generally best in the mornings,

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Speaker 1: as most people are, and you see you have a

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Speaker 1: nine thirty meeting and a task you'd really like to

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Speaker 1: devote a full hour too, you might be better off

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Speaker 1: coming in at eight or eight fifteen versus your normal

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Speaker 1: eight thirty. You can see there won't be an open

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Speaker 1: hour later in the day. That means if you don't

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Speaker 1: do the task first thing in the morning, you'd wind

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Speaker 1: up doing the task from five to six pm after

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Speaker 1: the meeting. Stop coming in fifteen to thirty minutes. Early

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Speaker 1: means you can leave an hour earlier than you would have,

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Speaker 1: and that's definitely a good trade off. Second, say hello

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Speaker 1: and check in with people early in the day. I

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Speaker 1: hear from so many people that their daily exits get

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Speaker 1: delayed because they walk around saying goodbye to people as

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Speaker 1: they're wrapping up, Which makes total sense, right, want to

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Speaker 1: nurture those relationships with your colleagues, But that's when people say, oh, hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm meant to ask you about it can be a

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Speaker 1: really important issue, But there goes fifteen to twenty minutes.

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Speaker 1: This is frustrating if it means you're on a later train,

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Speaker 1: So make sure people see you earlier. Circle around to

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Speaker 1: everyone after lunch or on your way to grab tea

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Speaker 1: in the afternoon, maybe seeing if people want to join you.

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Speaker 1: People really aren't trying to ruin your evenings, or at

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Speaker 1: least I hope not. It's just that seeing your face

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Speaker 1: reminds them of a question or something that's on their minds.

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Speaker 1: So make sure people see your face before five pm. Finally,

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Speaker 1: do what I call a four pm triage. About sixty

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Speaker 1: to ninety minutes before you plan to leave, revisit your

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Speaker 1: to do list. What absolutely has to happen before the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, What can be pushed to tomorrow

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Speaker 1: if you still really need to do something. This gives

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Speaker 1: you a moment to pause and figure out a plan

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Speaker 1: and tackle it prior to quitting time. This is also

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Speaker 1: when you can set your intentions for the following day

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Speaker 1: and set up tomorrow for your victories. Then in when

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Speaker 1: the work you've assigned yourself as done go, you're usually

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Speaker 1: back tomorrow. There will be time then to deal with

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Speaker 1: future work, but you'll be more prepared to deal with

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Speaker 1: it if you've relaxed, done something adventurous with your family

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Speaker 1: and friends, and gone to bed on time. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number

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Speaker 1: four then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot

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Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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