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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 take time off guilt free.

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Speaker 1: I often hear from people that they think they are

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Speaker 1: just too busy to take time off work. There is

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Speaker 1: so much to do, so how could they get away?

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Speaker 1: Drill a little deeper, and you find that they feel

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Speaker 1: guilty about taking a vacation when they could be working.

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Speaker 1: I do get it, but this is to some degree

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Speaker 1: a solvable problem. When you know what you are supposed

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Speaker 1: to be doing during any given unit of time, you

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Speaker 1: can work ahead and then you can take that particular

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Speaker 1: chunk of time off guilt free. Long time listeners know

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Speaker 1: that I think hours worked as a poor measure of productivity. No,

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Speaker 1: you cannot make magic happen with a four hour work week. However,

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Speaker 1: when we are talking about productivity, it's more important to

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Speaker 1: think about what you are accomplishing than how many hours

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Speaker 1: you are sitting in your chair. Measure by task, not

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Speaker 1: by time, Plan by task, which means knowing what you

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Speaker 1: plan to accomplish during any given unit of time. What

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Speaker 1: are your top objectives this week? What do you need

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Speaker 1: to do during each morning or afternoon to get there,

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Speaker 1: really get granular. Here, map it out on a planner.

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Speaker 1: Here is my assignment for Monday morning. Here is my

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Speaker 1: assignment for the two hours before my afternoon meeting, and

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Speaker 1: the one hour after. I promise there is a reason

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Speaker 1: for this level of detail. If you accomplish what you

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Speaker 1: planned for any given chunk of a day, then you

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Speaker 1: are on track. If you didn't, you're a little behind

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Speaker 1: and need to catch up. If you are ahead of

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Speaker 1: the game, then you can take time off absolutely guilt free.

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Speaker 1: So for instance, let's say that I plan to write

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Speaker 1: and edit my podcast episodes on Tuesday morning and record

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Speaker 1: them from eight am to ten am on Thursday. If

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Speaker 1: I get the content created on Tuesday morning more swiftly

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Speaker 1: than usual and manage to record then two, then I

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Speaker 1: can absolutely take early Thursday morning off. I have done

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Speaker 1: what I was supposed to do on Thursday morning. The

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Speaker 1: time is now available with the trains still running on schedule.

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Speaker 1: I am not saying there is nothing else in the

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Speaker 1: world that I would find to do then, but even

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Speaker 1: so I could definitely go for a run at eight

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Speaker 1: am and not worry about it. I know I am

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Speaker 1: on track. This thought process is particularly handy if you

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Speaker 1: know there is a specific time that you would like

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Speaker 1: to take off. You want to leave early, say to

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Speaker 1: attend a child's camp show. If you have planned out

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Speaker 1: your week so you know exactly what you are supposed

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Speaker 1: to do during that block of time, then you can

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Speaker 1: do this before that block of time. That way, you

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Speaker 1: can take that block of time off and know that

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Speaker 1: you are not behind. Now. I know that this is

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Speaker 1: most obviously applicable for people like me who work for

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Speaker 1: themselves and set their own agendas. I'd also note that

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Speaker 1: there are some kinds of work that really don't lend

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Speaker 1: themselves to working ahead. You cannot clean a patient's teeth

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Speaker 1: the day before they are scheduled to come visit, But

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Speaker 1: for a lot of knowledge work, you can take a

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Speaker 1: similar approach to working ahead. Even if you are working

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Speaker 1: for someone else. If you can communicate to your boss

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Speaker 1: what you were planning to do on say, the Friday

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Speaker 1: before Columbus Day, and that work is already done, it

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Speaker 1: is much easier to request the day off. And honestly,

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Speaker 1: I found that in many cases managers aren't looking to

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Speaker 1: stomp on people's requests for vacation days. It's just as

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Speaker 1: likely that employees feel like the workload is too overwhelming

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Speaker 1: to even try. But if you know what you're accomplishing when,

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Speaker 1: then you're not overwhelmed. You are on top of your game.

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Speaker 1: By working ahead, you can feel confident about taking time

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Speaker 1: off because you have already done the work you would

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Speaker 1: have done during the timing question. So today, work on

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Speaker 1: planning out your week in discreete chunks. What exactly do

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Speaker 1: you need to accomplish this week? What steps will you

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Speaker 1: need to take to get there? When exactly can you

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Speaker 1: block time in for these steps? Then see if there

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Speaker 1: is a time when you might like a little bit

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Speaker 1: more flexibility, do the work for that slot ahead of time,

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Speaker 1: and you'll probably be able to get the time. It

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Speaker 1: really is as simple as that. In the meantime, this

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

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

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Speaker 1: 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: heeart 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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Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.