168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

Written by:
Laura Vanderkam
Narrated by:
Elizabeth London

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
78
Narrator
28
Release Date
June 2010
Duration
7 hours 50 minutes
Summary
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.
Reviews
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Anonymous

Well worth a listen to put time into perspective

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Anonymous

This well-written book is also well-narrated and so you find yourself chuckling along at the witticisms and life observations as you consider how you are organising your own waking hours. Highly recommended.

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ALBINA TOLMACH

Great way to reconsider optimizing family and career life.

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Mikey P.

I think this book is very helpful when it comes to different ways to take advantage of your time. I enjoyed it.

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Deborah B.

It is a nice perspective. I do agree that time management is one of the problems of our modern society. I do not fully agree with some of her methods but I am happy to learn in her examples that it works for some. I will consider some ideas and definitely tracky time to see where I can improve but I will live a little too, have fun and let some of my time slip away from me and be ok with it. As long as we are aware it is just fine.

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Natalia F.

What a disappointment. The author really is wearing a white coat among us mere mortals.

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Oleksandra S.

practical tips for optimising the time, however might not suite to everyone or majority who may have lower income

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Marianna A.

Truly truly loved listening to this! Very helpful!

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Anonymous

At last someone that gave me a book to hand out! I am not that good of a communicator but there is nothing that irritates me more if someone says ”I do not have time.” after the asked me”how do you get it all done and still look so calm/happy” Now I can hand them this book and I do not need to explain to them why I can do more. Thanks!

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Duncan L.

It's good and there are definitely nuggets inside but it felt a but draggy. I just came from listening to atomic habits so this felt a lot more anecdotal than practical, although some stories were very helpful in remembering principles The 2nd half seemed more insightful than the first half and don't think it's gonna be super practical early on

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Zali S.

Found this particularly insightful for firstly addressing current time use, then actually deliberately "blocking" what is most important in order to achieve over time my goals - stuff on my "100 dreams" list. Doing it over the span of a week is good. This book came at the right time for me - I was quite stressed I "had no time" and realise now that overwhelm was partly associated with lack of planning. I loved the narrator too! :)

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Anonymous

I love that I didn't have to pay for this audio. I learned to expand my life and no longer look at things from a 24-hour perspective but from a 168 hours perspective. So glad I listened to it. Definitely a life changer.

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Leo A.

Great audiobook, great information, and great narrator/author!

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