Don't be afraid of a little wasted time

Sometimes efficiency can become an excuse

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that it is okay to waste a little time.
Efficiency is good, but don't let efficiency become an excuse

(00:25):
for not doing something that it would be wise to do.
The other day, I had some video interviews in the morning,
so I had done my full hair and makeup for that.
Then a phone call scheduled in mid afternoon got canceled.
I hadn't run in a while, so this suddenly open
spot was a perfect opportunity to hop on my treadmill

(00:48):
for thirty minutes. The problem I'd already done my hair
and makeup and it seemed wasteful to do them again
before I needed to go to something in the evening.
But then I realized how silly this was. I'm pretty
quick at getting ready, so I was only adding another
ten to fifteen minutes into my schedule. If I wanted

(01:09):
to exercise, I could do so and take the fifteen
minute hit. A little inefficiency would be okay. So it
goes for many things in life. I know everyone listening
to this podcast is incredibly efficient. You think about how
to use little minutes of downtime during the day. Perhaps

(01:30):
you even plot out your errands so you only have
to make right hand turns. I applaud all of this,
but we need to be careful that efficiency doesn't become
an excuse for not doing things that matter. Is it
efficient to ask your direct reports about their weekends before
beginning that Monday meeting. Nope, But in the long run,

(01:52):
a little wasted time at each meeting might pay you
back in people being less likely to quit. Is it
inefficient to commute into the office. Absolutely, and in many
jobs five days a week is massive overkill. But once
or twice a week, when you can chat with people
and make coffee dates and go out to lunch with

(02:13):
your team, can be a wonderful way to build relationships.
Many regular exercisers choose to work out first thing in
the morning because then they only have to get ready once.
It makes total sense. But if first thing in the
morning doesn't work, then it is absolutely fine to get
ready more than once. Don't let the need to rinse

(02:35):
off or maybe fix your makeup or hair keep you
from prioritizing health and wellness in your schedule. The truth
is that no one is perfectly efficient. I have seen
thousands of time logs over the years, and I can
promise you that everybody wastes time. I waste tons of time.

(02:57):
It would be pretty silly of me to read down
to the forty third comment on some news article that
irked me and then not be willing to brush my
hair and put on maskira a second time in the day.
The question is just what we choose to waste time on,
and when things are a priority, a little inefficiency is okay.

(03:21):
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

(03:41):
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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