Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to work slower. Sometimes doing things at a deliberate pace can lead to better work. It can also lead to you feeling better about your work, which is no small thing. Today's tip, like some others this week, comes from Chris Bailey's new book, How to Calm Your Mind. This book is all about finding presence and productivity in anxious times. Chris notes that the opposite of burnout isn't doing nothing, its engagement. The more engaged we are with our lives, the less anxious and the more productive we will be. While we can certainly build engaging hobbies and activities into our lives, it's even better if we can feel actively engaged in our work. One way to do that, according to Chris, it's working slower. As you turn down the stimulation factor by ending multitasking, you will naturally dive deeper into what you are doing. Chris writes, there is great joy to be found in working with a thoughtful deliberateness on what's important. If you value productivity as I do, don't worry what you'll lose in speed, you'll easily earn back in making progress on what's important. This is a lesson I am continually relearning when it comes to doing deep knowledge work. The more slowly I work, the more impact my work tends to have. Now, Chris's argument here doesn't mean pointlessly delaying things or leaving your coworkers waiting. I think the best image to keep in mind is using the space you would have used for multitasking to actually engage in your work more deeply. Rather than interrupting yourself ten times in an hour to check email as you write a memo, take fifty minutes to write that memo, focusing only on that memo, and then check your email for ten minutes, which do you think will produce a more carefully crafted statement. You are working slower and more deliberately, but the good news is that the task as a whole might not really take any more time. Rather than have a superficial conversation with a colleague as you are both flitting in and out of messages, put the screens away entirely and really talk through a topic. You can end a little early and then check all of your other inputs. But the slow conversation might produce more interesting results. You can also work slower in a way by leaving space to revisit things. I know. I always try to leave time to come back to the things I write. When I write these scripts, for instance, I write them, then I edit them, then I practice speaking them out loud. That way, I can think through the argument and also think if a word choice would be better for material that is meant to be heard rather than read silently. I know I generally work fast, and I make no apologies for that. That's how I get things done in a world where a kid could come home from school sick, or a plumber could show up to deal with the various problems in my home renovation. But all, let's say, a full hour on something with no chosen interruptions can often feel quite leisurely and luxurious. Feeling that work is luxurious is a decadence sensation. Indeed, I enjoy it, and I'm guessing you will too. It will, as Chris puts it, calm your mind, and that makes life feel more doable 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. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b 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 is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to work slower. Sometimes doing things at a deliberate pace can lead to better work. It can also lead to you feeling better about your work, which is no small thing. Today's tip, like some others this week, comes from Chris Bailey's new book, How to Calm Your Mind. This book is all about finding presence and productivity in anxious times. Chris notes that the opposite of burnout isn't doing nothing, its engagement. The more engaged we are with our lives, the less anxious and the more productive we will be. While we can certainly build engaging hobbies and activities into our lives, it's even better if we can feel actively engaged in our work. One way to do that, according to Chris, it's working slower. As you turn down the stimulation factor by ending multitasking, you will naturally dive deeper into what you are doing. Chris writes, there is great joy to be found in working with a thoughtful deliberateness on what's important. If you value productivity as I do, don't worry what you'll lose in speed, you'll easily earn back in making progress on what's important. This is a lesson I am continually relearning when it comes to doing deep knowledge work. The more slowly I work, the more impact my work tends to have. Now, Chris's argument here doesn't mean pointlessly delaying things or leaving your coworkers waiting. I think the best image to keep in mind is using the space you would have used for multitasking to actually engage in your work more deeply. Rather than interrupting yourself ten times in an hour to check email as you write a memo, take fifty minutes to write that memo, focusing only on that memo, and then check your email for ten minutes, which do you think will produce a more carefully crafted statement. You are working slower and more deliberately, but the good news is that the task as a whole might not really take any more time. Rather than have a superficial conversation with a colleague as you are both flitting in and out of messages, put the screens away entirely and really talk through a topic. You can end a little early and then check all of your other inputs. But the slow conversation might produce more interesting results. You can also work slower in a way by leaving space to revisit things. I know. I always try to leave time to come back to the things I write. When I write these scripts, for instance, I write them, then I edit them, then I practice speaking them out loud. That way, I can think through the argument and also think if a word choice would be better for material that is meant to be heard rather than read silently. I know I generally work fast, and I make no apologies for that. That's how I get things done in a world where a kid could come home from school sick, or a plumber could show up to deal with the various problems in my home renovation. But all, let's say, a full hour on something with no chosen interruptions can often feel quite leisurely and luxurious. Feeling that work is luxurious is a decadence sensation. Indeed, I enjoy it, and I'm guessing you will too. It will, as Chris puts it, calm your mind, and that makes life feel more doable 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. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b 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 is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.