Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including the new Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done. She is also the author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast and 168 Hours. She is the co-host of the podcast Best of Both Worlds, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.
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Show Notes:
- Laura writes books on productivity and time management.
- She also gives talks on these subjects.
- Laura lives just outside of Philadelphia with her husband and four kids (11, 8, 6, & 3)
- The habit that has led to her success in life has been writing a lot.
- Writes something ever day
- Writes 4 blog posts a week
- She has also challenged herself to write 500 words of fiction each day.
- She has a goal to really practice her writing skills because it is easy to do everything but writing.
- The way that she figures out if the content is good or not is by writing blogs.
- If people do not care much about the post then she knows it will not be a good topic.
- If people really like the topic then sometimes that translates into writing a book on that subject.
- People really need to take the time to figure out where their time is going.
- Try to track your schedule for one full week.
- Laura has been tracking her time for 3 years now.
- Ask yourself, “What do I like and what do I not like about my week?”
- 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
- 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week equals 168
- This just shows us how much time we really do have
- Successful people have some type of routine that they do
- What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: And Two Other Short Guides to Achieving More at Work and at Home
- Morning routines are awesome for most people.
- It comes down to whether are you making time for what is important to you.
- Think about what you do before bed. Can you go to bed earlier and get up earlier?
- What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: And Two Other Short Guides to Achieving More at Work and at Home
- Laura has seen thousands of time logs and everyone has time that they can deploy for other things.
- What would I love to do with this time?
- People find the time to binge-watch a TV show or read a page-turner (note where that time is)
- Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done
- This book is about how we feel about time and time freedom
- 900 people tracked their day on a random Monday
- There were key differences between people that felt like they had time and ones that did not
- The people that felt like they had more time, did something interesting with their day
- They did something memorable with their time
- “I don’t know where the time went”, really means, “I don’t remember where the time went”
- You have to do something that makes you feel in control of your time
- Time is elastic, and will fit what we choose to put into it
- You should look ahead to the next week on a Friday afternoon.
- Maybe a three-category list
- Career
- Relationship
- Self
- Put something in each category
- Front-load the week and plan for the mornings
- Maybe a three-category list
- Analyze your life and see where things can go wrong and prevent that from happening.
- Planning shouldn’t be about planning what you don’t want to do but rather scheduling what you do want to do.
- Four key tips:
- Track your time in each half-hour block
- Think through the week on Friday afternoon
- Calendar Triage (see what is on it and what you can get rid of)
- Leave some open space in your calendar
Laura Vanderkam’s Recharge Round
- Share with us how you believe your mindset affects your life. Be a positive person and not a perfectionist
- What do you do daily to bring Energy into your life? Exercise (she runs at least 1 mile every day)
- Share the number one connection that has made the biggest impact on your life. Her husband that helps her run the family
- What advice has Influenced you the most in your life? “Planned it in do it anyways”
- Recommend a book and share why you love it.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change - Define in one sentence or less, what legacy you want to leave on the world. “I hope to help people recognize that they do have time to build the lives that they want.“
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Piece of Guidance:
“I’m too busy” really means “It’s not a priority.”