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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: Today's tip is about how to create a morning routine

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Speaker 1: that even the busiest person can fit into his or

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Speaker 1: her life. This idea comes from Claudia Reuter, who's the

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Speaker 1: host of Critical Frequencies podcast. I was recently a guest

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Speaker 1: on this show, which talks about the varied career paths

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Speaker 1: that women in particular follow on the road to success.

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Speaker 1: While Claudia and I were chatting, we got to talking

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Speaker 1: about her morning routine. She likes to get up a

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Speaker 1: bit before the rest of her family. On a weekday,

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Speaker 1: that might mean between five thirty and six am. On

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Speaker 1: a weekend, it might be between seven and eight. Her

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Speaker 1: kids are teenagers, so they're self sufficient enough that they

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Speaker 1: don't need to bother her, but she finds it's helpful

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Speaker 1: if her house is quiet. After her showers, she stays

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Speaker 1: in her bathroom and locks the door. She sits on

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Speaker 1: the bath mat on the floor, sets the alarm on

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Speaker 1: her phone, and then meditates for five minutes. She focuses

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Speaker 1: on one word like blessed and on her breath. Five

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Speaker 1: minutes isn't a huge amount of time, but it turns

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Speaker 1: out to be enough to change how she feels. She

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Speaker 1: likens this to a computer processor needing to get cleaned

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Speaker 1: out from time to time. Once her head is cleared out,

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Speaker 1: she spends the next five minutes thinking about three things

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Speaker 1: that she's grateful for and visualizing what a great day

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Speaker 1: it will be. Then she heads into her kitchen for

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Speaker 1: her coffee. She writes down activities on her calendar, and

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Speaker 1: she journals about things she's working toward. What does she

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Speaker 1: intend to do during the day. When she looks at

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Speaker 1: her calendar, does her time align with her goals? Then

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Speaker 1: she goes about her business. All this meditating and setting

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Speaker 1: intentions takes just ten minutes or so of her morning.

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Speaker 1: But when she does this, she says, she knows it's

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Speaker 1: going to be a great day. I think this is

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Speaker 1: a wonderful idea. Often when we think of morning routines,

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Speaker 1: we picture multi hour sagas. Someone like Claudia, who has

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Speaker 1: a job, a podcast, two boys, a spouse, a house,

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Speaker 1: and a dog will likely find it challenging to meditate

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Speaker 1: for forty five minutes or do an hour long boot

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Speaker 1: camp every morning. But that's Okay, even a few moments

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Speaker 1: can set the tone for everything that comes. I was

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Speaker 1: reminded of this a few years ago when I saw

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Speaker 1: a time log from a woman whose mornings could have

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Speaker 1: been quite miserable. This particular woman lived in the Chicago

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Speaker 1: area and had a long commute that involved driving and

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Speaker 1: taking the train. The week she tracked was snowy, which

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Speaker 1: made the whole thing worse and adding to the misery.

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Speaker 1: Due to some challenges with her husband's job, she was

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Speaker 1: always responsible for daycare drop off for their two young children.

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Speaker 1: Any parents who do drop off will shut her at

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Speaker 1: this particular detail. Their daycare only head street parking. It

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Speaker 1: had become parking roulette every morning, will I get a

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Speaker 1: spot close by? Or will I be hauling two children

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Speaker 1: and their stuff in the snow for several blocks. In

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Speaker 1: any case, it made for some grueling mornings. She started

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Speaker 1: getting her boys coats on at seven in order to

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Speaker 1: be at her desk at eight thirty. But as I

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Speaker 1: looked at her log, I noticed the most curious thing.

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Speaker 1: She always got her boys fed and dressed by seven am.

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Speaker 1: The coat process started at seven ten, So what did

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Speaker 1: she do with those intervening ten minutes? It turns out

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Speaker 1: she spent seven to seven ten each morning playing with

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Speaker 1: her kids. They'd snuggle, tell stories, play with toys, all

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Speaker 1: that good stuff. I thought this was so profound. I mean,

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Speaker 1: she could have easily lost those ten minutes to checking

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Speaker 1: email or puttering around the house or standing there thinking

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Speaker 1: woe is me, I have this horrible commute coming up.

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Speaker 1: But instead she used those ten minutes for something to

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Speaker 1: add a little element of joy to her day before

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Speaker 1: they braved the traffic and the cold. Maybe you can't

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Speaker 1: have an elaborate morning routine right now, either, but could

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Speaker 1: you find ten minutes in ten minutes? What could you do?

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Speaker 1: Like Claudia? You could meditate and set your intentions for

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Speaker 1: the day, or you could lift weights, play with your

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Speaker 1: kids like the lady in Chicago, or write in a

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Speaker 1: journal or read something important. It doesn't have to be much,

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Speaker 1: but small things done repeatedly truly do add up. So

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Speaker 1: what can you build into your mornings today? 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 E the

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Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At i

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

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Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

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Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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