Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to think about what you do with
Speaker 1: an extra hour in the week, but then also be
Speaker 1: realistic about the nature of time and our choices. In
Speaker 1: much of the United States, we set our clocks back
Speaker 1: an hour over the weekend. This means that Sunday actually
Speaker 1: contained twenty five hours, and any week containing Sunday was
Speaker 1: a one hundred sixty nine hour week instead of a
Speaker 1: one sixty eight hour week. I find this concept fascinating,
Speaker 1: not the whole daylight savings idea, which just tends to
Speaker 1: mess up my kids sleep schedules. I am more fascinated
Speaker 1: by the idea of actually making a week longer. Many
Speaker 1: times people tell me, oh, if I only had an
Speaker 1: extra hour in the day, I do X, Y or Z,
Speaker 1: and then magically, one day a year we get just that.
Speaker 1: On some level, this could lead to thought provoking questions
Speaker 1: what would we do with an extra hour in the week.
Speaker 1: As we discussed in an episode last week, some people
Speaker 1: use the time change to rethink their habits. In the
Speaker 1: group discussion questions section at the end of My Time
Speaker 1: management fable Juliette School of Possibilities. I ask people to
Speaker 1: think about the idea of adding an extra hour into
Speaker 1: a schedule. If you are going to devote one extra
Speaker 1: hour a week to a top professional priority, what would
Speaker 1: that be. If you are going to devote one extra
Speaker 1: hour a week to a top personal priority, what would
Speaker 1: that be? This question tends to get quickly at those
Speaker 1: handful of things that we know we should be doing
Speaker 1: but aren't. Maybe it's reaching out to a mentor or
Speaker 1: thinking about long term career development. Maybe it's exercising or
Speaker 1: working on our novels. Maybe it's really connecting with our spouses.
Speaker 1: In this extra hour, we know we'd finally put time
Speaker 1: towards those things that are important but not urgent. We'd
Speaker 1: put time towards those things we're not doing now, but
Speaker 1: we truly believe our priorities. Except when people get a
Speaker 1: twenty five hour day, do they do these things? In
Speaker 1: a word, no, The vast majority of people who live
Speaker 1: in places where the time falls back do not spend
Speaker 1: the extra hour exercising or connecting with their spouses or
Speaker 1: writing that novel. Many people don't rethink their habits or
Speaker 1: anything else. Instead, the hour is just absorbed into the day.
Speaker 1: We do the same things we always do, and that's
Speaker 1: because time itself is not the issue. If we're not
Speaker 1: making space for something in a twenty four hour day,
Speaker 1: we aren't going to make space for it in a
Speaker 1: twenty five hour day either. If we're not making something
Speaker 1: a priority in a one hour week, it's unlikely that
Speaker 1: a six nine hour week will do the trick. Time
Speaker 1: will always be a matter of choices. Expectations are infinite,
Speaker 1: and time is finite. Since we are always choosing, it's
Speaker 1: not measurably easier to choose just because a little more
Speaker 1: space opens up. So, by all means, ask yourself what
Speaker 1: you would do with an extra hour in the day.
Speaker 1: But then, and this is key, challenge yourself to figure
Speaker 1: out a way to do this in your normal life.
Speaker 1: People who exercise or read or write operas while reporting
Speaker 1: today jobs don't have any more time than anyone else.
Speaker 1: They've figured out ways to allocate time to what matters
Speaker 1: to them. They make the logistics work, they ask for help,
Speaker 1: they push back on things, They do meaningful things even
Speaker 1: when they don't always feel like it. And that is
Speaker 1: how stuff truly gets done. Whether that's in twenty four
Speaker 1: hours or occasionally in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four, then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H m
Speaker 1: hm