168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

I’m sure I’m not alone in my quest to find all the time management hacks that will improve my efficiency and productivity. The less time I spend on vacuuming or scrubbing the toilet, the more time I have to read.

To that end, I’m always reading books on time management. Every book offers at least one nugget that I can apply to my life.

168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam will change how you think about time.

Not 24 hours in a day, but 168 hours in a week.

“Looking at life in 168 hour blocks is a useful paradigm shift, because — unlike the occasionally crunched workday — well-planned blocks of 168 hours are big enough to accommodate full-time work, intense involvement with your family, rejuvenating leisure time, adequate sleep, and everything else that matters.”

If we look at our time in weeks, rather than days, and we honestly evaluate where and how we spend our time, we’ll see that 168 hours leaves us with plenty of time for the things that matter. We have seven full days and seven full nights in which we can live our lives and accomplish all we want.

How Do We Spend Our Time?

“The problem is not that we’re all overworked or underrested, it’s that most of us have absolutely no idea how we spend our 168 hours.”

Laura cites time-diary studies that show we work fewer hours than we think. We spend less time on housework than in decades past. Even childcare represents a small portion of our days.

So what are we doing with our time? 

Well, we spend on average, 18-23 per week watching TV. That’s 2.57 - 3.29 hours per day. We lose the rest of our days to things like social media and clicking around the internet.

“… we spend massive amounts of time on things… that give a slight amount of pleasure or feeling of accomplishment, but do little for our careers, our families, or our personal lives… consequently, we feel overworked and underrated, and tend to believe stories that confirm this view.”

What’s Inside 168 Hours

Part One Of 168 Hours: Your 168 Hours

This is where Laura shows you how to do your own time study. 

You’ll keep a time diary for one week at least, but you can go longer to get an accurate picture of how you spend your time. Just keep in mind that there is rarely a “typical” week because things always come up.

You’ll track what time you get up, how long you spend getting ready for the day, how long you work, how long you spend on dinner, how long you spend reading to your kids, how long you spend cleaning the floors, how long you spend paying the bills, how long you watch tv, how long you spend scrolling on social media, how long you spend reading (You are reading sometime during the day, aren’t you?)

The point is to record all the things you do, every day, all day long. 

At the end of the week, you should have an accurate accounting of where you spend your time.

Then Laura shows you how to break it down and evaluate it.

Next, you’ll identify your “core competencies.” Your core competencies are the things you’re really good at and the things that only you can do — like being a wife to your partner. You can’t hire someone to do that for you.

Part Two Of 168 Hours: @Work

A section about work is included because we spend so much of our time at work.

Being in the right job is important because “in the context of overall life management, it matters that much… being in the right job can give you amazing energy for the entirety of your 168 hours.”

The @Work section explains the areas to look at and the things to consider so you can be serious about growing your career opportunities while still working “normal hours.” Even if you’re an entrepreneur or while working a white-collar corporate career.

Part 3 Of 168 Hours: @Home

The New Home Economics research shows that we spend far less time on our homes than previous generations. (Though we do spend more time with our children.)

While this may be true, taking care of and maintaining a home can require precious hours in our week. This section discusses ways we can think differently about housework and things to consider if you want more “free” time.

Part 4 Of 168 Hours: 168 Hours, Day By Day

“Getting the most out of your 168 hours is a process of evaluating where you are and where you want to be.”

If you haven’t yet done your own time study, Laura goes over the process for doing your own “time makeover.”

• Log your time.

• Create your list of 100 dreams.

• Identify your core competencies.

• Start with a blank slate.

• Fill in your 168 hours with blocks of core-competency time.

• Ignore, minimize, or outsource everything else.

• Fill bits of time with joy.

• Tune up as necessary.

“Tune up as necessary” will be key. What works for you today may not work for you in two months. As you and your children move through stages of life, your schedule will need to change. When you’re living through a pandemic, things are going to get flipped upside down and turned inside out. Expect to make adjustments.

You’ll also get a peek inside the time makeovers of three different individuals. This should spark some ideas for you as you work on your own.

Final Thoughts on 168 Hours

The biggest idea you can take away from 168 Hours is to think about time differently. It’s very easy to buy into the idea that there just aren’t enough hours in our days.

But your mindset determines your actions. If you believe that you don’t have enough time, well, then you’ll act as if you don’t have enough time. And you’ll always be in a state of urgency and unrest.

If you take a deep breath and audit your days, you’ll discover all the ways you’re losing time. And you’ll start to be more careful with your time. You’ll put effort into planning your days, ensuring that you don’t waste your hours on things that aren’t important to you.

And that will allow you to move about your days and weeks, knowing that you have enough time and you’re giving attention to the things that matter.

If you want to learn how to live as if you have plenty of time, get your copy of 168 Hours today.

Other Recommended Reads

If you enjoy 168 Hours, you might also like:

• I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam

• Start Finishing by Charlie Gilkey