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168 Hours
168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think | Laura Vanderkam
14 posts | 26 read | 13 to read
There are 168 hours in a week. This book is about where the time really goes, and how we can all use it better. It's an unquestioned truth of modern life: we are starved for time. With the rise of two-income families, extreme jobs, and 24/7 connectivity, life is so frenzied we can barely find time to breathe. 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 else, if we don't make excuses, we make sacrifices. To get ahead at work we spend less time with our spouses. To carve out more family time, we put off getting in shape. To train for a marathon, we cut back on sleep. 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. They focus on what they do best and what only they can do. When plans go wrong and they run out of time, only their lesser priorities suffer. It's not always easy, but the payoff is enormous. Vanderkam shows that it really 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. The key is to start with a blank slate and to fill up your 168 hours only with things that deserve your time. Of course, you probably won't read to your children at 2:00 am, or skip a Wednesday morning meeting to go hiking, but you can cut back on how much you watch TV, do laundry, or spend time on other less fulfilling activities. Vanderkam shares creative ways to rearrange your schedule to make room for the things that matter most. 168 Hours is a fun, inspiring, practical guide that will help men and women of any age, lifestyle, or career get the most out of their time and their lives.
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janeycanuck
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Mehso-so

I have mixed feelings about this. It felt like there was some really good stuff here but everything was very parent-centric so I often felt like I was grasping at straws for how I could apply some things back to my own life. Definitely a better read for someone who is juggling career, family, etc and is doesn‘t have enough time than for someone like me who is just trying to do more with the time I have.

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sophierayton
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Panpan

I was not the target audience and did not enjoy it. It reeked of privilege, but perhaps those who enjoy similar privilege and admire Vanderkamp, might enjoy it.

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Blaire
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Panpan

This book is aimed at high-earning two-income families that can adjust work hours as they wish. Her advice is to track your hours to see how you spend time, determine whether it‘s in a fulfilling/career advancing way, if it‘s not change it. Also pay someone else to do stuff. This book could have been 10 bullet points instead of 9 hours. Assumes lots of tv watching that can be turned into free time. Not the book for me or my life. ⬇️

Blaire Her advice was the same for person after person - hire people to do things for you; get up early to spend time with your kids; work from 9-5 and then from 8:30-11, but also exercise 7 hours a week, spend two hours thinking about how to advance your career, etc... and you may think you don‘t sleep much, but you do. 5y
Blaire Also the book has weird religious undertones. Many examples of things you might want to find more time for were: praying (she suggests doing this in the shower or while running), bible study, and reading religious texts (she suggests this as a waiting room activity). Also lots of talk of doing fun things with her kids but still all being in the pew on Sunday morning. 5y
Leftcoastzen 🙄 5y
LeahBergen 🙄🙄 5y
Blaire @Leftcoastzen @leahbergen yeah, it really irritated me. Tho it‘s an unpopular opinion, the other Litsy reviews are good. 5y
55 likes5 comments
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Blaire
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So far a lot of this book gets an 🙄 from me. None of it seems new and is very geared to people who can control own hours and outsource things with extra money. And for a time management book feels overly long. I‘m listening at 1.75 time to maybe glean the helpful parts. It does deal with the #mathematics of using the weekly hours you have to advance your career and still have a life. #redroseseptember

valeriegeary "for a time management book feels overly long..." ???? 5y
Cinfhen Love that line too @valeriegeary 😂😂😂very clever, Blaire👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 5y
Cinfhen That‘s how I felt about The OverStory ~ for a book about saving trees why did the author have to verbally regurgitate and produce a 500+ pages ~ that‘s a lot of paper consumption 5y
See All 9 Comments
arlenefinnigan Yeah I'm not a fan of the theory that "you have the same number of hours in the day as Beyoncé" - well I don't do I? Beyoncé doesn't have to clean her own toilet. 5y
saresmoore @arlenefinnigan You made me lol! 😅 5y
gradcat Ditto @valeriegeary & @Cinfhen & @arlenefinnigan ... y‘all are crackin‘ me up, today! 😂🤣😂 5y
Blaire @valeriegeary @cinfhen 😂😂😂. It did not improve - not the book for me. Tho it does get generally good reviews. 🤷🏼‍♀️ 5y
Blaire @arlenefinnigan exactly. She notes her privilege...but not the level of it. Obviously I know it would save time to pay other people to do stuff for me. 🤦‍♀️ 5y
53 likes9 comments
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bell7
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Pickpick

Much like budgeting, time management is about opportunity costs: if I do this, I can't do that. But we don't always think of it that way. As a result, the biggest takeaway from the book is simple: take back control. It's definitely set up for middle or upper class Americans, generally working with kids, so your takeaway may be more or less applicable. But I found it a useful read.

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bell7
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Inspired by my current read, I'm going to start keeping a time log next week and try to keep it up for a couple of weeks to get a handle on how I budget my time. I think I generally use it the way I want to, but we'll see if this gives me any further Insight. Wish me luck!

wordzie 😎 6y
14 likes1 comment
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Lea
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Pickpick

This has some basic info that‘s a really good reminder. I picked it up because my word for the year is PRIORITY and I saw her quite about if you don‘t have time it‘s not a priority and wanted to read more from her. Good tips, a lot of privilege, not all of it would work for my unconventional work/life but still good reminders about the time I waste and how I could get in a few more pages or a little pierce of art. #readwomen

Lea #LitsyWalkers if snow shoveling counts! 😂🥴 (edited) 6y
Kaye Shoveling counts. I‘m sure it burns calories. It‘s hard work ! 6y
21 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Morr_Books
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Pickpick

Finished this on my work break. I acknowledge that when you create a self-help book like this one on time management, it is hard to write to everyone's specific life. This book did ok, though I don't have kids & would have preferred a little more guidance on how to utilize my time better when I work a lot and have a house to care for. Outsourcing tasks seems like a good option for me but not necessarily for my budget. A lot of great info! 4/5

Velvetfur Hmm, I've been eyeing up this book for a while, so your review is very useful as I too do not have children and I cannot afford to outsource anything! Thanks for your review 😊 7y
Morr_Books @Velvetfur This book still provided good tools to help you with time management even if many examples don't represent your specific use of time. 7y
Velvetfur @Morr_Books I'll definitely take a look at some point, thanks! 7y
60 likes3 comments
quote
Chelo
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"You can choose how to spend your 168 hours, and you have more time than you think."

- Laura Vanderkam, 168 Hours: You Have More Time than You Think
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#wirn #audiobook #audible #lauravanderkam #168hours #productivity #entrepreneurship

1 like2 stack adds
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Shay
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#RiotGrams Day 2: I did not think I had that many yellow books. But I pulled all of these from just one of my bookshelves!

7 likes1 stack add
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juliannebenford
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Pickpick

Must remember to take photos of books BEFORE I start reading them and they get dented and the cover won't lie flat 😅 I finished this last night and it's probably the best personal development book I've ever read. It's thoughtful and practical. Some of its suggestions do require 💰, though I was aware of this going in and was pleasantly surprised as I thought there would be more suggestions along these lines than there actually were. #nonfiction

BookishMarginalia Good review! 8y
21 likes4 stack adds1 comment