168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

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The author makes a big deal about time being worth money--I feel that my time and money were wasted with this book. i'm sure she felt as stressed out as someone who really did work 80 hours a week, but that was probably a function of guilt over having such terrible time management skills. However, when she considers 8-hour work days multiplied by five as only taking up 40 hours of a 168-hour work week, she fails to consider the five or more hour commute some people have weekly, the 9-hour workday most people have (whether or not they are able to take a lunch break is a different matter), and the fact that most people take between one and two hours preparing for work in the morning, during which most people don't have time to go on hikes or do fun activities with kids as the author suggests. I shared these results with my husband who, too, agreed that we weren't maximizing our core competency areas. And if reading/listening to music is not one of your priorities, listening to books/music while spending 2 hours each day in the car isn't going to help with that feeling that there's not enough time.

I also felt that, while she's clearly devoted to nurturing her children and advocated that strongly, the references made to nurturing one's spouse/partner were a nod-and-wave at best.Some of the tips she offers include recognizing your key competencies, finding a job you love, logging your hours, and outsourcing some tasks. And, start with clothes that will last a while, then develop a relationship with a local tailor who can alter clothes to fit you perfectly. It sounded like she was pretty young when she wrote the book, so I'm hopeful that she has grown up some since then and become more understanding of others. This author impressed me with her ability to pose questions that made me ask questions in her book "All the Money in the World.

I found her discussion of outsourcing household tasks (and the associated stigmatism) fascinating, particularly the opportunity costs of hiring someone and the concept of specialization (disguised as “core competencies”) in the assignment of household tasks or in choosing to support local task-specific businesses. She encourages you to list your 100 dreams and core competencies and then arrange your schedule to reflect your aspirations, values, and strengths. Getting the most out of your 168 hours is a process of evaluating where you are and where you want to be. my main criticism is that vanderkam occasionally goes off on bizarre tangents that didn't really make a lick of sense.To tackle the 168 hours time management strategy well, you’re going to ask yourself some more questions. I knit because it relaxes me, I can serve others by giving them gifts, and studies show that it's good for your health. I’m planning to try logging my time for a week soon so I can better see how I’m actually spending my time and decide what changes I want to make. She says it so flippantly, as though it's a given that a two-year old should be in day care all day and with a babysitter at night.

Because Americans spend bags of money on air conditioning and cars and coffee and other things which Laura Vanderkam thinks are a waste of money.

The “Best of Both Worlds” podcast which I co-host with Sarah Hart-Unger airs every Tuesday where we talk about the challenges and joys of working and raising families. For example, if you schedule in time for exercise or time to read, you are more likely to do those things vs. I guess I am just the wrong audience for this book, but I think the title or book jacket should of at least narrowed down whom this book was targeting. It's a book about how to be more responsible about your time and use it wisely however I couldn't help feeling like I was wasting my time reading it. This time management strategy will help you hack psychology and bypass that optimism bias so that you can actually understand where your time is going and adjust it accordingly.