168 Hours Summary

Summary of 168 Hours Book by Laura Vanderkam

Name: 168 Hours
Rating: 4.3 (731 reviews)
Author: Laura Vanderkam

4.3 . 731 reviews

Short summary

Time constrains the purposefulness of our professional and personal lives. In our 24/7 always-awake and always-connected world, there’s so much we need to do to be successful in our professional and personal pursuits, and so little time to do them; even though we sleep less and less to make “more time” to do them. Do you feel time-constrained in your professional and personal lives? Most of us are under a constant time crunch. Week in, week out. Laura Vanderkam, the author of “168 Hours”, makes a counter-argument ― there are 168 hours in the week, and there is enough time inside of those 168 hours to live purposefully in our professional and personal lives. Then if we rinse and repeat, there is enough time to live a purposeful life, 168 hours at a time. Is Laura Vanderkam right? Find the answers in this time-management book you need to read.

16 min

9 key points

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Table of content

Summary of 168 Hours
About the author
What is 168 Hours about?
Who should read 168 Hours
Topics in 168 Hours

first key point

There is more than enough time to live as purposefully and as abundantly as we want our professional and personal lives to be

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We seem not to have enough hours in the day to do all that we need to do. There's always too much work and too little leisure. We proudly proclaim ourselves as too busy as the 60-70 hour workweek is our new “part-time,” and a 90-120 hour week is normal.

We are too busy to read to ourselves or to our kids, or to attend religious services, or to spend time talking with our spouses or to vote.

But others, like Theresa Daytner, have more than enough time on their hands. Daytner owns Daytner Construction Group and is a mother of six — including eight-year-old twins. As a business owner, she's probably busier than most of us; yet Daytner sleeps 7 hours every night, coaches soccer and spends the weekends cheering at her children's games. She hikes outdoors and goes on trail rides for hours at a time, in the mornings, during the working day, to enjoy the “peace and quiet” and “recharge.” She has time to watch 24 too, which helps her to recharge mentally. Also, she takes days off work to coincide with her kids' days off school so she can take the kids on sightseeing tours.

Daytner views her time different from most people. All of her hours and minutes are precious, none go to waste. For example, she reads Hardy Boys books to her sons in the car and nurtures her relationship with them in the 10 minutes between when her teens' school opens (8:00 a.m.) and her twins' nearby school opens (8:10 a.m.).

Daytner also understands she is in charge of herself ― “Everything that I do, every minute I spend is my choice.” so she spends her time on the things she does best that no one else can do better: nurturing her business, nurturing her family and nurturing herself. According to her, “If I’m not spending my time wisely, I fix it, even if it’s just quiet time.”

Daytner shows us that our claim of being “busy” is a lie, because we all have the same amount of time ― 168 hours every week ― to create the lives we want; which is to be fully engaged in our professional and personal lives.

By choosing how we spend our 168 hours every week, we have more time on our hands than we think.

second key point

We can live our professional and personal lives to the fullest if we spend as much of our 168 hours in the week as is possible on our core competencies

Our core competence is what we can do better than almost anyone else, and is the foundation element we need as we try to use our 168 hours to build the lives we want.

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third key point

The right job for us is the one that matches our core competencies with the right job conditions and work environments to challenge us to the limit of our abilities

fourth key point

Productive work is the secret to a professional life that’s fulfilling

fifth key point

We can take deliberate steps to reach the summit of our careers

sixth key point

We are doing less housekeeping so we can spend more time nurturing our spouses and our children

seventh key point

If we desire that our lives be purposeful, we need to be deliberate with our leisure hours in the same way that we are deliberate with our work hours

eighth key point

A full and purposeful life is a full and purposeful 168 hours lived over and over again

ninth key point

Conclusion

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What is 168 Hours about?

In this insightful book, the author challenges the notion that we don't have enough time in our lives. Vanderkam explores the concept of 168 hours, the amount of time we all have each week, and offers practical strategies to make the most of it. Through real-life examples and research, she empowers readers to prioritize their time, eliminate time-wasting activities, and achieve a more fulfilling and balanced life.

Who should read 168 Hours

Busy professionals seeking strategies to maximize their productivity and work-life balance.
Overwhelmed parents looking to better manage their time and priorities.
Individuals wanting to make the most of their limited time and achieve their goals.

Topics in 168 Hours

Time Management Productivity Self-Help Personal Development Career Development Entrepreneurship Work-Life Balance Goal Setting Prioritization Efficiency

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