Recent Reads: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Thank You Think by Laura Vanderkam

168 Hours: You Have More Time Thank You Think by Laura Vanderkam 
Publisher: Gildan Media, LLC 
Publication Date:  June 16, 2010

 

Format: Audible Audiobook
Source: Bought/Own

Rating:

Goodreads Synopsis: 

There are 168 hours in a week. This is your guide to getting the most out of them.

It's an unquestioned truth of modern life: we are starved for time. We tell ourselves we'd like to read more, get to the gym regularly, try new hobbies, and accomplish all kinds of goals. But then we give up because there just aren't enough hours to do it all. Or if we don't make excuses, we make sacrifices- taking time out from other things in order to fit it all in.

There has to be a better way...and Laura Vanderkam has found one. After interviewing dozens of successful, happy people, she realized that they allocate their time differently than most of us. Instead of letting the daily grind crowd out the important stuff, they start by making sure there's time for the important stuff. When plans go wrong and they run out of time, only their lesser priorities suffer.

Vanderkam shows that with a little examination and prioritizing, you'll find it is possible to sleep eight hours a night, exercise five days a week, take piano lessons, and write a novel without giving up quality time for work, family, and other things that really matter.

Review: 

A few years ago, I was at a conference for work and Laura Vanderkam was the guest speaker. Since that time I have wanted to read her book in its entirety versus just knowing the pared-down presentation part. This year it came up in a BOGO from Audible and so I grabbed it with a few other professional development titles I was interested in.

168 Hours is about just that ... you have 168 hours in a week. How are you using them? I know that I am wasting about 40 of my hours after having read this book. In the first chapter of the book Laura recommends keeping a log of what you do throughout your day and then accounting for your hours though the week. Although I didn't keep the actual log (I intend to eventually), I know I am wasting a pretty good chunk just by rounding out some numbers. 

Anyhow, this book makes it very clear that you have more time than you realize. The focus on that time log continues through the book and Laura recounts stories of logs she has asked people to keep and how they achieve so much in their weeks. It was very interesting. I liked that she found a way to really track things and I also really enjoyed the stories... so why the three stars? Well some of this book just did not apply to me. I do not have kids, so that was a chapter that I did not resonate with, although I understand why it is there. I also found the book to be not for me in the sense that I am not in a job where I can really make the changes to gain more time for other things... 

Laura's premise is that you can delegate, create your own work hours, etc. She admits that she is privileged  in the first chapter but she really does not address that for the rest of the book and that is problematic. I don't have all sorts of money to just drop everything and chase my dream job, nor can I just set my own schedule and delegate, I work on a team and we are essentially in a 9-5 business. A lot of her suggestions just do not fit with an normal persons trajectory. 

All that said, I will use this for the logging of time planning when I think I need more time. I won't be utilizing much else as far as her suggestions, they are bit impractical for me.