Deepen time

Sometimes you should do two things at once

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is too deepen time. No one gets more
than one hundred sixty eight hours in a week, but

(00:25):
by being mindful of where the time is going, it
is possible to make each hour count for more. When
this episode is first airing in January, I am leading
a time tracking challenge where hundreds of people are logging
their time for a week. We are all trying to
figure out where the time really goes so we can

(00:47):
make wise decisions. If that sounds good to you, then
feel free to join in. You just write down what
you're doing as often as you remember, and keep going
for a week. Then you can celebrate, reflect or change.
When people first track their time, they are often surprised

(01:10):
at just how vast a hundred sixty hours truly is.
Many of us are accustomed to thinking primarily of work hours,
or even just week day hours, and we fail to
see all the time that exists. Of course, time isn't
infinite either, and so on some level we are ultimately

(01:32):
limited in how much time we can devote to anything.
We also know that multitasking tends not to be terribly efficient.
You could try to save time by answering your emails
during that conference call, but one or the other is
getting the short end of the sick. But that doesn't
mean you can't do two things at once. Indeed, you

(01:55):
often can, and in many cases should. I realized this
at one point in college when I was trying to
land a campus job. I realized that some jobs would
allow me to study at the same time I was working.
Others didn't, So I wound up taking a job manning
the information and security desk at the student center during

(02:18):
off hours when a few information requests came up. If
I would be studying from eight pm to midnight anyways,
why not get paid for those hours too. No one
is paying me by the hour these days. But there
are lots of ways to do two things at once.
I mean, hey, you are getting productivity tips from me, well,

(02:39):
no doubt doing something else right. You can read while
driving or exercising or doing chores by listening to audiobooks.
You can deepen a relationship while doing errands by consciously
bringing one person along with you a child, a partner,
a friend. This turns something you need to do in

(03:00):
to one on one quality time. You can also incorporate
one other person into a leisure time activity, walking with
a friend, doing a puzzle with a spouse or child,
that sort of thing. You can walk while listening to
a conference call where you don't need to talk all
that much. You can walk while conducting a meeting with
one other person. This allows you to exercise and work simultaneously.

(03:26):
Or if you are walking from one place to another,
you can call a friend or family member. You can
practice a talk while driving your car. The advice to
never eat alone allows you to combine a necessary practice
eating with networking that deepens time. You can even squeeze

(03:46):
hobbies into little bits of time when you are theoretically
doing something else as the major category of time. If
you play an instrument, for instance, use the five minutes
between phone calls to watch a YouTube video of someone
else playing a piece. You are learning. Just like that,
you have turned downtime into practice time and made more

(04:09):
space in your busy life for your art. You are
working and boosting your creative skills at the same time.
How is that for making more of your hours? Now?
Of course, we can get carried away with this there
is no need to turn every single second into something

(04:30):
uber industrious. But on the other hand, we only get
so much time. If there is something you'd like to
spend more time doing and you are having trouble finding
space to do it, see if there is time to
do it while doing something else, it can make time

(04:50):
feel entirely different. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

(05:11):
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at i heeart media dot com that before Breakfast

(05:32):
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.