168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

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probably my favorite part of this book was where vanderkam contrasts the reports of how people think they spend their time versus how they actually spend it. i used to have a friend who claimed that, between her actual outside-the-house job & a small side business that she ran to help make ends meet, she worked an average of 80 hours a week. & yet, she didn't come close to keeping traditional 9-5 hours (more like 11-3), & she spent enormous chunks of time sitting on her porch smoking weed & watching TV. i kind of wanted to buy a copy of this book & leave it on her doorstep. i'm sure she felt as stressed out as someone who really did work 80 hours a week, but that was probably a function of guilt over having such terrible time management skills. Her insistence that everyone has enough time to do anything they want if they manage their time better may grate some people wrong, and her emphatic crusade against time spent watching television became a bit lecture-y at times. However, I respond well to blunt facts and her point that “everything you choose to do is a choice” forced me to consider how exactly I’m using each of the minutes in my 168 hours. If you aren’t a creative genius perhaps you could be a professional flunky. See if www.flunkies-are-us.com is available. I’m willing to go out on a limb and bet you’re either overestimating or underestimating what you’re doing with your time.

To better manage your time, create a spreadsheet and log all 168 hours of the week. That way, you will have a clear understanding of where your hours are going.

Get rid of non-core-competency tasks by ignoring, minimizing, or outsourcing them. Always seek work that improves your core competencies, and minimize the rest. Seize control of your schedule. Determine what you want to do with your life and set a schedule to get there This author had a few good ideas, but I was very disappointed in most of it. This book is hardly worth it unless you already earn six figures, as her biggest advice was to outsource all the things you don't want to waste your time with such as laundry, cooking and cleaning. I can see where this might make sense to her as she has very small children, but what is she teaching them? Nothing! She talks about spending all her free "kid time" playing, how about doing the chores together? This will not only save her money, but she will be spending time with her boys AND teaching them something valuable and worthwhile to their future. Even a 2 year old can help do chores. As a busy mom of 4 who home schools and works at night after they are in bed, her advice offered me nothing towards time management. In total, I logged 115 hours against 7 core weekly activities. That means I have 53 (168 - 115) hours of remaining time to do with it what I will, including possibly taking time from things like “watching T.V.,” or “social media” to do tasks of higher value. When you focus on what you do best, on what brings you the most satisfaction, there is plenty of space for everything” Creating the Right Job

The core concept behind this time management strategy is that all of us have the same amount of time in a week—168 hours—but it’s what we do with this time that makes all the difference. Not only do short breaks help prevent “decision fatigue”—which leads to poor decision making—but they also boost productivity, improve creativity, and restore motivation for long-term goals.Examples of things that are not core competencies for most people are laundry, cleaning the house, or making food (unless of course those things are part of your job, or a fulfilling hobby). Those are tasks you can either outsource, not do at all, or spend less time doing. Your core competencies are those things that you do best that nobody else can do as well as you. For example, at your job this might be in-depth research, or it might be analyzing complex data, or it might be managing with empathy. At home this would be something like spending time with your kids or partner, or exercising. The latter two illustrate a slightly different way of thinking about your core competencies—the things only you can do for you. Nobody else can exercise for you, just as nobody else can strengthen the relationship you have with your kids or partner for you. Those things take one-on-one time with you and only you. Have your personal assistant/executive assistant/secretary make your appointments, manage your schedule, and take care of the little tasks that add up.

When I flip over to the reports tab, the first thing I do is change the report so that I only see data for the week of April 26 - May 2.

The truth is, money, like time, is a choice—and often a related choice. Just as you need a “work team” to support your career, you need a “home team” to help you focus on your core competencies and save time in your personal life. If you’re rolling in cash, this may literally be a team.” Prioritization is a little iffy: While I’d love to be able to prioritize all my tasks around my core competencies, the truth is I can’t. Sometimes there are just some things I have to do that I can’t outsource—certain activities at work, paperwork when I’m registering new students for a scuba class, etc. According to James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, on average it takes about 66 days (2 months) for a new behavior to become automatic (though that number is not clear-cut and for some people it takes less or more). Give yourself enough time to do it. If you don’t manage to get it right the first time, just keep trying. Change is hard. Pros and cons of the 168 hours time management method