Don't waste those minutes before a call

Build good habits in tiny bits of time

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 to not lose those minutes right before
a phone call or meeting. These minutes are incredibly easy

(00:24):
to waste, but with a little thought, they don't need
to be spent on things that don't matter. I know
many people are working from home at least occasionally these days,
and work from home days can wind up with various
virtual meetings scattered all over the calendar. You don't need

(00:44):
to go anywhere, so you don't need to stop what
you're doing too long before the meeting, but you do
need to stop other things at some point in order
to start promptly. So in my case, an eleven o'clock
call on the calendar means that by ten fifty five
I have stopped doing much of Note. I pull up

(01:05):
the link and then fiddle around until it is the
right time to click in. Now, to be sure this
isn't a ton of fiddling. Wasting three or four minutes
a few times a day is not going to be
the difference between a well lived life and one that
is squandered. Still, I do believe that even mere minutes

(01:30):
are worth honoring by using them. Well. That doesn't mean
doing more stuff just to do more stuff. It means
recognizing that small bits of time can allow for good
habits that over time add up. For instance, I have
been trying to do a few more abdominal strengthening exercises

(01:52):
after I realize some back pain I've been dealing with
probably stemmed from a weak core. It turns out that
a plank pose and some bicycle crunches only take two
to three minutes to do. That fits perfectly in the
time between when I have found the link and when
I click in. By tying these exercises to this specific

(02:15):
found time, I make them happen, and the more I
do them, the stronger I become. Now, of course, I
probably wouldn't be doing these crunches if I were in
a cubicle. But the good news is that exercise is
far from the only thing you can do in these
chunks of time. Maybe it is consciously focusing on your

(02:36):
breathing for two minutes when you are concentrating and doing
nothing else. Two minutes can feel like quite a long time,
but this is an opportunity to warm up your discipline
and willpower. Before you begin your meeting, you could write
a few words in a journal. You can read a
poem if you've got a book of poetry on your desk.

(02:59):
You can look over your eating agenda again, or think
about the other people who will be in your meeting
and maybe think about one thing you admire about each
of them. Having those thoughts in mind will definitely put
you in a more constructive place for your tenth zoom
call of the day. In person meetings require going somewhere,

(03:20):
but I have found that the same dynamic often plays
out at least for people who make a point of
being punctual. If you've got a meeting in a nearby
conference room at noon, you stop other work a few
minutes before, But since it doesn't actually take ten minutes
to walk to the conference room, and since you don't
want to arrive too early, you pause for a few minutes,

(03:44):
using this time for something else. For what likely another
glance at the inbox, But your inbox will always be there.
Consciously building other habits can let you use this time
to make ress on bigger things. It does add up,

(04:04):
so as you go about your day, make a point
of not wasting those few minutes before a phone caller meeting.
Figure out what small action you can tie to this
time and that you can do repeatedly. This will allow
you to make the most of these little minutes rather
than seeing them slip through your hands like sand through

(04:26):
an hour glass. No doubt your meetings already feel like that.
Sometimes no need to lose the minutes before them. Two.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

(04:54):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
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 iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is

(05:16):
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 my
heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.