Keep some plane time for yourself

Plan in when you'll relax, so you don't feel guilty about it

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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 to keep some airplane time for yourself. You
don't have to use all your time and transit to

(00:24):
get stuff done. You can reserve some of it for leisure.
I know Before Breakfast listeners like to be productive, and
one way to do that is by getting stuff done
while you are on planes. Planes can be great for
deep work like writing, editing, or developing ideas. You can
get through an email backlog, or do a lot of

(00:45):
little to dos when you are removed from everything else
that comes up. But I'm here to encourage you not
to use all your plane time for work. When you
decide in advance to keep some plane time for yourself,
you can still get plenty done, but then you also
won't feel guilty about doing something restorative as well. Former

(01:08):
Surgeon General Vvick Murthy recently wrote on Substack about the
benefits of not working on planes. He pointed out that
planes used to be removed from the demands of the ground,
but with laptops and Wi Fi, they aren't anymore. Plane
life used to be its own special thing, A distinct
experience with its own rhythm and personality. He said, Now

(01:31):
it's just ground life in a smaller seat. But it
doesn't have to be that way. Vivick suggested ways you
can make the sky feel like a sanctuary again. As
he put it, he encouraged people to designate some plain
time for doing nothing or doing whatever they wanted. He advised,
decide before you board how much time you will give

(01:53):
to the ground and how much you will keep for yourself.
In the time when you are not working, he said,
just see where your mind takes you. Who knows your
mind may wander in ways that can spark new ideas
and insights. I would add that if you plan to
spend some time not working, you won't feel disappointed or
guilty for not working the whole time, which often doesn't

(02:15):
happen in any case. I think sometimes when people don't
plan to use sometime for leisure, they feel bad about
not having worked the whole time. But sometimes that is inevitable,
like if the flight is bumpy or frequently delayed, or
you're exhausted, or something doesn't go as planned. When that
is the case, watching a movie is perfectly fine, and

(02:39):
if you are going to watch a movie, well you
may as well enjoy it. So the next time you're flying,
decide purposely to do some work and reserve sometime for yourself.
That way, you will land having gotten done whatever you
needed to and feeling a bit restored. It's the best

(03:00):
of both worlds. 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,

(03:21):
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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