Book Summary168 Hours, by Laura Vanderkam

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of 168 Hours

How can you fit a meaningful job, time with your loved ones, and leisure time into your schedule? Many of us would say that it’s impossible. But in 168 Hours, productivity expert Laura Vanderkam argues that **you can have a full, satisfying life by managing your time...

168 Hours Summary The Key to Productivity: Being Intentional With Your Time

As Vanderkam points out, we all have 24 hours a day—or 168 hours in a week. However, we don’t get equal amounts done with our 168 hours. For example, Lisa might run a non-profit, go to Pilates class, do volunteer work, and raise a large brood, while Mary might struggle to do all her tasks at her full-time job, leaving her with only enough time and energy to scroll through her phone messages before she goes to sleep.

Why do Mary and Lisa vary wildly in their productivity despite having the same number of hours? Vanderkam contends that this stems from two different approaches to time: Lisa is intentional, actively scheduling her week around her priorities. In contrast, Mary spends much of her time doing low-priority tasks (like unimportant jobs at work) and easy but only mildly satisfying leisure activities (like scrolling through social media).

Vanderkam explains that when you’re intentional with your time, as Lisa is, you do three things: First, you actively schedule your week around your priorities. Second, you understand your “core competencies,” or unique strengths—the things that...

168 Hours Summary How to Be Intentional With Your Time

Now that you’ve learned why you need to be intentional with your time in order to build a meaningful life, we’ll go through Vanderkam’s four steps for doing so.

1) Record how you use your 168 consecutive hours. Throughout your day, write down how you spend each hour. Be specific about exactly what you did; instead of writing “dinner,” write “made stir-fry” or “ordered and ate takeout.”

2) Review your time record to discover how you’re currently spending your time. To do so, Vanderkam recommends dividing your activities into major categories, such as sleep, work, or social media. Then, add up the hours you spend on each activity; it likely won’t add up to 168 hours because you lose some time logging them, but it should get fairly close. Then, reflect on your totals. Are you satisfied with the time you’re spending on each activity? What could you do differently? Keep in mind that unlike a day’s time, 168 hours should be plenty of time for all the activities that matter to you.

Make Recording and Reflecting On Your Time Easier

Other productivity experts suggest further techniques to make recording and reflecting on your time easier and more effective.

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168 Hours Summary Why and How to Be Intentional at Work

Now that you know the importance of being intentional in general, how can you become intentional at work? Vanderkam argues that the key is to do work you love. In this section, we’ll explain why you need to do work you love and how to ensure you love work by creating your perfect position.

Why You Should Do Work You Love

Vanderkam argues that if you want to have a meaningful life, you must intentionally choose work you love for two main reasons. First, you spend many hours at work, so your job satisfaction inevitably affects the rest of your life: If you like your job, you’ll have more energy to enjoy your personal life. If you hate your job, your dissatisfaction will lead to lower energy throughout the rest of the week.

Second, Vanderkam argues that if you enjoy your job, you’re more likely to achieve more in your career. When your job involves your unique strengths, you enjoy it more. When you enjoy your job, you spend more hours working—and thus are more likely to become an expert in your field. That’s because research indicates that to excel at a skill, you must spend 10,000 hours of deliberate practice on it, meaning you concentrate and zero in on...

168 Hours Summary Why and How to Be Intentional at Home

You’ve learned how to be intentional at work, but how can you be intentional at home? Vanderkam argues that the key is to focus on your unique strengths—just as you would in business. Specifically, she recommends that you focus on your children and your partnership, and that you limit how much time you spend on your housework.

In this section, you’ll first learn why and how to be more intentional with your loved ones. Then, you’ll learn why you should delegate most of your housework—and how to do it.

Be More Intentional With Your Loved Ones

Vanderkam recommends that you be more intentional with your loved ones. This is important not only because it will benefit your relationships with them, but also because your relationships with your children and partner are unique strengths. Only you can parent (not babysit) your own children in your unique way; for example, you might be able to foster your kids’ love of the outdoors because you also love the outdoors, whereas your partner can’t foster that passion in the same way because they prefer being inside. And only you can invest time in your partnership.

**What Other Authors Say About Being Intentional At...

168 Hours Summary Why and How to Be Intentional With Your Leisure

Now that you’ve learned how to be intentional at work and at home, you’ll learn how to be intentional with your leisure time. In this section, we’ll discuss why you should schedule your leisure time and how to do it.

Why You Should Be Intentional About Your Leisure Time

According to Vanderkam, if you want your leisure time to be meaningful, you should schedule it—otherwise, you’ll spend too much time watching TV.

Vanderkam asserts that most Americans think they have less leisure time than they do because they spend too much time watching TV. Most Americans claim to have just 16.5 hours of leisure time per week. However, data indicates they have 30 hours —they just don’t realize it because they spend 20 hours mindlessly watching television.

Vanderkam argues that this underestimation is a result of not being intentional about leisure time. TV watching isn’t necessarily a fulfilling leisure activity: One study found that it brings less joy than several other activities, such as reading or hiking. However, we choose it because it’s easy: It’s affordable, mindless, and easy to do whenever you have a few minutes.

**Why Modern Americans Aren’t Intentional About...

Shortform Exercise: Discover Your Unique Strengths

Vanderkam suggests that in order to live a meaningful life, you must build your schedule around your unique strengths. While she suggests trying new activities to discover your strengths, you can also review the activities you’re already doing, then adjust your schedule accordingly.

What are three things you’re good at? These can be job-related (like running meetings) or personal (like hosting great parties).