Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is for when you are feeling stressed or
Speaker 1: annoyed about work you have to do, remind yourself that
Speaker 1: you chose this connect with what drew you to the
Speaker 1: work in the first place, to provide renewed motivation or
Speaker 1: at least tolerance for the task at hand. So I
Speaker 1: love writing books, and in particular I love figuring out
Speaker 1: new truths about how people spend their time and how
Speaker 1: we can spend our time to make life more meaningful
Speaker 1: and enjoyable. When I opened the giant box that came
Speaker 1: in the mail a few weeks ago to see the
Speaker 1: first hardcover copies of my latest book, Tranquility by Tuesday,
Speaker 1: I was just flooded with the realization that, Wow, this
Speaker 1: is what I wanted to be when I was growing up.
Speaker 1: But it turns out that books don't sell themselves. So
Speaker 1: I have spent a reasonable amount of time over the
Speaker 1: past few months figuring out how I can share the
Speaker 1: book with as large an audience as possible. That means
Speaker 1: managing the logistics of various video conference platforms for interviews,
Speaker 1: keeping track of marketing email schedules, and generally getting tired
Speaker 1: of hearing myself talk. So I keep reminding myself, I
Speaker 1: chose this. I get to write books for a living.
Speaker 1: My whole life. I've wanted to be a writer, and
Speaker 1: here I am. People sometimes even pay me to speak
Speaker 1: about the topics in my book. I am very grateful
Speaker 1: for that. It doesn't make getting stuck in O'Hare on
Speaker 1: the way home from a speech anymore enjoyable, but it
Speaker 1: does keep it in perspective. I am guessing if you
Speaker 1: are human, there are parts of your job that you
Speaker 1: don't like, or parts that stress you out. Maybe you
Speaker 1: are a chef at an amazing bakery, which is your
Speaker 1: dream job, and this requires you to be at work
Speaker 1: before dawn every day that you are working. This is
Speaker 1: not your favorite hour of the day. Or maybe you
Speaker 1: are a physician who loves taking care of patience, but
Speaker 1: you find the unpredictability of weekends when you are on
Speaker 1: call incredibly stressful. Or maybe you are a parent who
Speaker 1: is thrilled to be able to care for your kids
Speaker 1: full time, but would it please be possible for your
Speaker 1: two year old not to scream in the car every
Speaker 1: afternoon when you have to wake him up from nap
Speaker 1: to go get your six year old at school. Even
Speaker 1: in a job you love, it is likely that there
Speaker 1: are parts of your job that you don't love. These
Speaker 1: parts are stressful, tedious, inconvenient. When you are feeling annoyed
Speaker 1: by these parts of your job, it can be helpful
Speaker 1: to repeat these words, you chose this, I chose this.
Speaker 1: People get sick on weekends just like they get sick
Speaker 1: during the week People want their pastries at seven am,
Speaker 1: not seven pm, and so early hours are just the
Speaker 1: nature of the baking life. Toddlers are toddlers, and if
Speaker 1: you are a toddler's full time caregiver, you get the
Speaker 1: tantrums along with the snuggles. So best to just keep
Speaker 1: your eye on those snuggles. When you reconnect to what
Speaker 1: you love about your work, it is easier to get
Speaker 1: through the parts of your job that you don't love.
Speaker 1: Remember what drew you to the work in the first place.
Speaker 1: Consider what you are learning from this work and acknowledge
Speaker 1: the impact you are having. Reflect on the future opportunities
Speaker 1: that today's work is opening up for you. Remind yourself
Speaker 1: of what appealed to you in the first place, so
Speaker 1: you can find motivation to bring the work to completion.
Speaker 1: Of course, if you realize that your reasons for choosing
Speaker 1: your work are outweighed by its downsides, maybe it's time
Speaker 1: to consider looking for a new job or changing the
Speaker 1: situation in some other way. There's really no shame in
Speaker 1: this at all, but the main idea is to remember
Speaker 1: that you have choices. If you live somewhere that you
Speaker 1: are free to listen to this podcast, then most likely
Speaker 1: you have a lot of control over your life. The
Speaker 1: universe didn't assign you this work. You chose it, so
Speaker 1: stay connected to your motivations for choosing it, or realize
Speaker 1: that you can choose something different. I realized I wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to do anything more than writing, and so it's
Speaker 1: all good one way or another. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number
Speaker 1: four then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart
Speaker 1: media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I
Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. W