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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that efficiency isn't everything. Even if there is

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Speaker 1: a task that could be done cheaply by someone else,

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Speaker 1: or that theoretically could take less time, if you enjoy it,

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Speaker 1: feel free to keep doing it, at least some of

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Speaker 1: the time. The endpoint of efficiency is freeing up time

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Speaker 1: for tasks you enjoy. If you are already at that

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Speaker 1: enjoyment step, you are winning at life. So I have

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Speaker 1: been reading various books lately on how entrepreneurs can free

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Speaker 1: up time. Many entrepreneurs work very long hours because they

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Speaker 1: are tackling everything in their businesses. That can be a

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Speaker 1: problem if people want to eat and sleep and see

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Speaker 1: their families. I have certainly pondered which tasks I can

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Speaker 1: get off my plate. I have delegated a great deal

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Speaker 1: in my business and in my personal life. However, as

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Speaker 1: I think about this question, I realize that there are

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Speaker 1: some things I don't want to take off my plate,

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Speaker 1: even if I can see the argument for doing so.

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Speaker 1: For instance, I love to hear from readers and listeners

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Speaker 1: if someone has taken the time to read my work

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Speaker 1: or listen to my work, and has written me their

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Speaker 1: thoughts about it. I want to acknowledge that. I want

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Speaker 1: to share my follow up ideas and hear what the

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Speaker 1: person thinks about those as well. So I read all

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Speaker 1: the messages I get from readers and lists, and I

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Speaker 1: respond to about ninety percent of them. Sometimes this can

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Speaker 1: be time consuming. I recently ran a time tracking challenge

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Speaker 1: where several thousand people kept track of their time for

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Speaker 1: a week. Many of those folks then sent me their

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Speaker 1: time logs afterwards with thoughts on their schedules and their lives.

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Speaker 1: Studying these time logs and responding to people's questions and

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Speaker 1: discoveries took at least an hour a day for several weeks.

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Speaker 1: It was pointed out to me somewhere in here that

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Speaker 1: I could have created some automatic responses or response templates,

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Speaker 1: or had somebody else helped me go through all this,

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Speaker 1: which is totally true. But I love learning about time.

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Speaker 1: I love seeing how people spend their time. I like

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Speaker 1: digging through the data so I really understand the choices

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Speaker 1: that people make. So even if this did take a

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Speaker 1: lot of time, I was glad to do it. Other

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Speaker 1: people might make different choices, but reading and responding to

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Speaker 1: my own messages works for me. Perhaps you, likewise have

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Speaker 1: certain work tasks that you enjoy, even if they are

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Speaker 1: not necessarily the core of your job. Maybe you are

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Speaker 1: mostly in management, but you enjoy using your technical skills

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Speaker 1: from time to time. Maybe you are mostly acquiring new

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Speaker 1: book projects, but you still like editing a few on occasion.

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Speaker 1: You are mostly designing menus or training restaurant managers, but

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Speaker 1: you enjoy hopping in during the dinner rush to help out.

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Speaker 1: Or maybe there are tasks you do that you are

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Speaker 1: well aware could be done quicker. I can crank out

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Speaker 1: a blog post or newsletter quickly when I need to,

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Speaker 1: but sometimes I enjoy carving out extra time. I'm coming

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Speaker 1: back to the work a few more times to tweak

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Speaker 1: a phrase or at a new angle. Does anyone notice

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Speaker 1: or care? Quite possibly not, But I enjoy it, so

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Speaker 1: I do it. There is no need to go overboard

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Speaker 1: on these things. We probably shouldn't spend all our time

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Speaker 1: on lower value tasks when we are responsible for the

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Speaker 1: higher value ones that pay the bills, but we don't

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Speaker 1: need to offload them completely either, or do everything at

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Speaker 1: the absolute swiftest speed. Efficiency isn't everything. It is a lot,

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Speaker 1: but it isn't everything. Best to keep it in perspective.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.