Second Cup: Be generous with time

People are a good use of time

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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 consider being generous with your time. While
boundaries are wise, people are generally a good use of time,

(00:28):
so be generous with time when you can. There is
a famous passage from First Corinthians that has read at
weddings about love. You probably remember how this starts from
the last wedding you went to, with the statement that
love is patient. I was pondering recently what it means

(00:50):
for love to be patient, and I realized that fundamentally,
patience means being generous with time. When love is patient,
it means we aren't rushing off to the next thing.
We are giving people enough time to be heard and seen.

(01:12):
This plays out in all sorts of ways. It can
mean chatting with a teenager even though it is bedtime
and you are tired. It can mean listening to your
spouse as worries even though you are annoyed about something
else here or she did. It can mean taking time
to encourage a direct report, even in the middle of

(01:35):
a packed day. It can mean graciously listening to your
elderly neighbor tell that same story about her grandchild. Again,
time is ultimately limited, and so this generosity is costly
in a way that being profligate with money is not.

(01:55):
You can make more money, you cannot make more time.
And so a lot of time management literature talks about
saying no more often, and perhaps there is something to that.
But when we can say yes to the people in
our lives, it strengthens those relationships in a way that

(02:16):
little else can. I fundamentally believe that people are a
good use of time, and the good news is that
a few minutes invested in generosity is often paid back
in profound ways. I love to get emails from listeners
and readers, and I respond to almost all of it.

(02:39):
As a result of spending just a few minutes on
those emails here and there, I have made some great
friends and professional acquaintances over the years because of those connections.
Talk about a huge payback. Many of us have had
the experience of encouraging a young person in our field.
That young person then goes on to become a total

(03:02):
rock star and a font of all sorts of opportunities. Again,
that is a big payback for what was probably not
a huge investment of time. Now, generosity doesn't need to
be a blank check, and I am sure that sometimes
generosity is abused. But even if being generous with time

(03:26):
sometimes feels like a waste of time, the truth is
that we waste time on all kinds of things. As
it is. I doubt that listening to a neighbor's story
is a much worse use of time than scrolling around
online for a few minutes. The former can spread some
serious joy. Love is patient and we all need more

(03:52):
love in the world. 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 your tips, your questions, or anything else.

(04:15):
Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

(04:44):
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