168 Hours
You Have More Time Than You Think
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3.8 • 86 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Vanderkam (Grindhopping) offers a new system of time management: if readers want to make more time to spend with their children, get fit, or write that novel, they must slash nonessential time wasters and minimize tasks that are not core competencies, a business term for what a company does best and must prioritize. She offers solid and even excellent career advice, about both how to make the most of time at a current job and how to manage time to get ahead. And there is something curiously fascinating about her bizarrely brutal approach to time management ( There's little point... in spending much time on activities in which you can't excel ). But given that the author seems to be targeting a very rarefied echelon of upper-middle-class working moms (like herself), the book might have very limited appeal. More alienating, though, is her insistence on pummeling the life out of life. Vanderkam's vision may yield plenty of time to pursue worthy activities, but it's a life leached of color or spontaneity.
Customer Reviews
Despite the 168 hours ad, it is a worthy book!
Despite the content of the book, the topic is already inspiring you that morning hours are most precious in daily life. Then I started reading the book at bed time. And I ridiculously set my alarm at 6:30, which I don't usually do. I woke up this morning at 6:30 (again this is amazing! i usually woke up at 9) and I read the book again. I feel my mind are so fresh as I have never had. This book has really inspired me a lot. And it is worthy to spend two bucks only by viewing what successful people do and imitate their habits.
The only con is the 168 hour ads in the book. I'm an ad hater but I guess every author will do ads. I'll move on N read 168 since this book is also a highly ranked one.
Life changing
This book is life changing, wish I had read it in my teens !
Different than any productivity book I’ve ever read
So many books are about productivity for productivity’s sake, or productivity for ambition’s sake. This is the first book that seemed to care that I actually have a good life and not just a good work life.
This book changed my life. It was the first time I realized I really could have it all despite having a demanding job. I had bought into the myth that I felt stressed and overworked simply because of my work hours and that there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily I was wrong.