There are 168 hours in each week. How do we find time for what matters most?
Time management expert Laura Vanderkam studies how busy people spend their lives, and she’s discovered that many of us drastically overestimate our commitments each week, while underestimating the time we have to ourselves.
Between careers and kids, many men and women feel that they are just too busy to cram in anything else. To test the truth of this feeling, author Laura Vanderkam began logging her time for each of the 168 hours of the week.
Among her surprising findings? We retroactively overestimate the amount of time spent stressing about work while underestimating our available downtime!
In her very popular TED talk (it’s had over 2.5 million views to date!), Laura offers a few practical strategies to help find more time for what matters to us, so we can “build the lives we want in the time we’ve got.“
Why you should listen?
If you want to shatter the myth that there just isn’t enough time in the week for working professionals to live happy, balanced and productive lives – THIS is a TED talk you don’t want to miss!
How to gain control of your free time • Laura Vanderkam
Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours.
Her work has appeared in publications including Fast Company, Fortune, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and four children, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.
*Sources: TED.com, lauravanderkam.com
