MNT2LEARN Leadership Primer Laura Vanderkam
How To Gain Control Of Your Free Time
Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time-management and productivity books, including Juliet’s School of Possibilities, Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune. She is the host of the podcast Before Breakfast and the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the podcast Best of Both Worlds.
“You don’t build the life you want by saving time. You build the life you want, and then time saves itself. Recognizing that is what makes success possible”
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
As someone who has devoted her professional life to the study of time management, Laura shares that if we build the lives we want, time saves itself.”
Do you agree?
Laura shares the story of a woman whose calendar she studied who had to deal with an unexpected household emergency - a broken water heater. This illustrated that time is highly elastic and will stretch to accommodate our priorities.
Have you experienced that in your own life?
If we treat our priorities like the broken water heater we will have time for what we value. Saying that we don’t have time is saying that it’s really not a priority (ie exercise).
Have you successfully made time for all of your priorities? If yes, what strategies do you employ? If not, why were you unsuccessful?
Laura shares an exercise where you give yourself next year’s “performance review”, in order to identify professional priorities for the upcoming 12 months. She shares you could do the same personally using next year’s family holiday letter.
Complete that exercise and determine your 6-10 personal and professional goals for the year. Now work backward using your calendar to schedule the time you need first to accomplish these goals.
Laura also shares weekly tips for planning. Follow her Friday afternoon 3 category prioritization strategy for 2 weeks and see if it makes a difference for you.
Laura shares you should “look at the whole of one’s time to see where the good stuff can go”. After all, there are 168 hours each week and even if you work 40 and sleep 48, you still have 72 left.
What will you do differently as a result of watching Laura’s TED Talk?
Additional reading
https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/06/7-productivity-tips-really-use-really-work/