Managing your Time Better

I think we’ve all said at some point, “I don’t have time for that right now,” or “I wish I had more time.” Time management is a lifelong journey and finding that balance is a crucial aspect of a fulfilling life. As a freshman in college, I’ve been struggling with time management and pushing things off, so of course I watched a TED talk on the topic!

“How to gain control of your free time” is a talk from Laura Vanderkam. Laura is a  recognized author, writer, and speaker on topics such as work-life balance, career development, and time management. In her talk, she makes it clear that we have more time than we think.

She starts off brilliantly as she connects with the audience. “I was once late to my own speech on time management.” This immediately creates a connection with the audience and represents her authenticity. Managing our time is clearly not easy.

She then gives an anecdote to challenge our common perception of time. She describes the life of a busy woman whose water heater happened to break on a Wednesday. The woman had no choice but to take care of the situation and in total, she gave seven hours that week towards fixing the situation. Seven hours is a lot of time! Vanderkam then describes that the woman from the story “shouldn’t have had” seven extra hours to give to something. She would’ve refused a project that’d require seven hours of work because she “couldn’t fit it in.” Laura is showing us that time is highly elastic and that we can do more than we think. The phrase “I don’t have time,” just means that it isn’t a priority. We have the autonomy to decide what to do with our time.

Vanderkam advises a strategy to write next year’s performance review for yourself. Think a year into the future and write 3-5 things you did that made it a success. She also says to do this for a family card. What 3-5 things did you theoretically do to make this year a success? With this you get 6-10 goals to work towards all year long in order to prioritize what’s important. Put these priorities into your schedule first.

The most mind-boggling thing she discusses are the numbers. There are 168 hours in a week. You work for 40, sleep for 56 (8 hours a night), and that leaves 72 extra hours! There are 72 free hours for most people to do as they please because they are definitely “free” hours, right? In all seriousness, there is genuine free time that just needs more intention behind it. Also, if there’s time conflicts, don’t fear compromise. Maybe family dinner isn’t possible but what about family breakfast instead?

If we truly care, we’ll make the time for it. Think about what’s important to you and plan your week around these things. Laura Vanderkam says, “Even if we’re busy, we have time for what matters. And when we focus on what matters, we can build the lives we want in the time we’ve got.”