Everything is research

Ideas and inspiration can be found just about anywhere

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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 if you love your work, you can
glean insights for it from all kinds of sources. Everything

(00:25):
is research. I had a great time interviewing writer Serena
Bowen for Before Breakfast last year. Serena is amazingly prolific
and has written literally dozens of novels, mostly romance and thrillers.
She has a devoted fan following who love being drawn
into the worlds and stories she creates. In our interviews,

(00:49):
Serena mentioned taking ice skating lessons to learn how ice
skating coaches talk. What motivated the lessons. A character in
a book she is working on is an ice skating
coach and she needed to be able to write realistic dialogue.
Serena explained, everything is research. She said that's true for writers,

(01:13):
but I would say that's true in lots of other
fields too. The world offers up all sorts of ideas
if we are willing to pay attention. Personally, when I read,
or listen to podcasts, or even interact with friends and family,
I pick up strategies for streamlining daily life and building

(01:34):
and meaning and fun. Some of these strategies find their
way into my podcasts or blog posts or books. So
for me, listening to podcasts and reading magazines about spring cleaning,
or talking with other parents about birthday party hacks all
count as research. For an HR professional, reading and hearing

(01:58):
about people's experiences of work is research. What they learn
about what frustrates people or what gives them, a sense
of satisfaction and accomplishment, what attracts them to potential workplaces,
and so forth can all inform how the HR professional
approaches his own work. For an English teacher, pleasure reading

(02:19):
is research. A teacher might have occasion to teach the
literature she reads, of course, either in its entirety, but
perhaps also just as an excerpt to illustrate a particular
literary device. If you work in marketing for a bakery,
hearing about the pain points in people's daily lives could
help you market your products. You could promote kishe for

(02:43):
a nice but easy breakfast. When you have house guests,
you could highlight chocolate peanut butter bars or lemon ice
box pie as desserts you can buy a couple days
ahead of time before a dinner party. When you understand
people's needs, you can figure out how your baked goods
could meet those needs. There was even a story on

(03:04):
National Public Radio recently about a physicist who heard a
game show question about polar bears not showing up on
infrared cameras and was inspired in her scientific research by
the anti freeze properties of polar bears fur. Truly, everything
can be researched, even a game show. Well, it's certainly

(03:25):
important to do things in your life besides work. When
you love your work, you can gain insights from all
kinds of sources if you're paying attention. So pay attention.
You can learn a lot about the world just by
being in it. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

(03:47):
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, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

(04:16):
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