9 Strategies for Managing Your Time | Laura Vanderkam
Laura Vanderkam, author of "Tranquility by Tuesday," shares nine research-backed strategies for time management, focusing on building resilient schedules and intentional living. She discusses how to optimize time for work, family, and personal well-being, even with a demanding life.
Deep Dive Analysis
17 Topic Outline
The Universal Struggle with Time Management
Time as the Great Leveler and Learning from Others
Managing Both Work and Personal Time Effectively
The Importance of Intentionality and Time Tracking
Lessons from Seven Years of Personal Time Tracking
Introducing the Tranquility by Tuesday Research Study
Rule 1: Give Yourself a Bedtime for Orderly Sleep
Rule 2: Plan Your Week on Fridays to Reduce Anxiety
Navigating Weekend Work and Its Impact on Colleagues
Rule 3: Move by 3 PM for Energy and Brain Breaks
Rule 4: Three Times a Week Qualifies as a Habit
Rule 5: Create Backup Slots for a Resilient Schedule
Rule 6: Incorporate One Big and One Little Adventure Weekly
Rule 7: Dedicate One Night for Personal Self-Care
Rule 8: Batch Small Tasks to Free Up Deeper Time
Rule 9: Prioritize Effortful Fun Before Effortless Leisure
Final Thoughts and Resources for Time Management
5 Key Concepts
Time as the Great Leveler
Despite differences in intelligence, wealth, or appearance, everyone has the same amount of time in a day or week. This shared constraint makes how successful people manage their time a fascinating and universal topic for study.
Intentionality with Time
This refers to consciously thinking about how time is spent, rather than letting it pass by passively. It involves asking where time is currently going, where one would like it to go, and what strategies can be used to make those changes possible.
Resilient Schedule
Unlike a perfect schedule that assumes everything will go smoothly, a resilient schedule accounts for inevitable disruptions and unexpected events. It includes built-in flexibility and backup plans to ensure important tasks still get done.
Three Times a Week as a Habit
This concept challenges the 'all or nothing' mindset, suggesting that anything done three times a week can be considered a regular habit and part of one's identity. It makes goals more achievable by reducing pressure for daily adherence.
Effortful vs. Effortless Fun
Effortful fun involves activities that require some active engagement, like reading or hobbies, leading to greater satisfaction. Effortless fun, such as passive scrolling or TV watching, is easy but often leaves people feeling less rejuvenated or like they've wasted time.
8 Questions Answered
Many people feel pulled in multiple directions, leading to feelings of being frayed and frazzled. This often results in a cycle of trying to prioritize, falling behind, and then self-flagellating for perceived unproductivity.
Even those with dictated schedules or multiple jobs have some discretionary time. The key is to recognize these patterns, use that 'some time' for rejuvenation, and slowly carve out opportunities to work on things they find most interesting, as good results often lead to more agency.
The first step is to track your time for a week to understand where it currently goes. This provides good data to identify patterns, what's accounted for, what's wasted, and then make mindful choices about where you'd like it to go.
Planning on Fridays utilizes time that might otherwise be wasted, allows for setting appointments during business hours, enables a productive start to Monday, and helps alleviate 'Sunday scaries' by providing clarity on the week ahead.
Yes, it can be acceptable, especially for those with flexible schedules, to work on weekends to gain more flexibility during the week. However, it's important to be intentional about why you're doing it, set clear goals for weekend work chunks, and communicate expectations to colleagues to avoid creating pressure for them to work off-hours.
Physical activity, even just 10 minutes of brisk walking, acts as a reset button, boosting energy levels and optimism. The 'move by 3 PM' rule targets the common afternoon energy dip, offering a healthy alternative to reaching for coffee or sugary snacks.
Resistance often stems from feeling overcommitted to things they don't want to do, or from an underlying belief that no one in their life can function without them. It can also be a fear that if things run smoothly without their active management, their importance might be diminished.
By creating a designated time for all necessary but non-priority tasks, individuals can protect other time slots for deeper work or relaxation. This strategy removes the temptation to switch to easy wins when frustrated with difficult projects, allowing for more focused effort on important goals.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Establish a Consistent Bedtime
Figure out your ideal bedtime based on your wake-up time and sleep needs (7-8 hours), then commit to getting into bed at that time most nights, setting a 30-minute wind-down reminder, to ensure orderly sleep and consistent energy levels.
2. Dedicate Time for Weekly Planning on Fridays
Set aside a designated time on Friday afternoons to plan your upcoming week, reviewing goals, logistics, and what you’re looking forward to, to leverage otherwise less productive time, use Monday effectively, and reduce Sunday anxiety.
3. Build a Resilient Schedule with Backup Slots
Create backup slots or ‘rain dates’ for important priorities, and build in general open space in your schedule, to accommodate unforeseen events, prevent frustration when things go wrong, and allow for seizing new opportunities.
4. Commit to a Weekly Self-Care Activity
Choose a commitment that is not work or family care, is intrinsically fun for you, and ideally happens at the same time every week (e.g., joining a choir), to ensure you prioritize active self-care and create a focal point for your week.
5. Schedule Weekly Adventures for Memorable Experiences
Plan one ‘big adventure’ (3-4 hours) and one ’little adventure’ (less than an hour) each week—something novel, enjoyable, and out of the ordinary—to create lasting memories and make time feel richer and more deliberate.
6. Prioritize Effortful Fun Over Effortless Leisure
Before engaging in effortless leisure like scrolling social media or watching TV, commit to a few minutes of ’effortful fun’ such as reading or a hobby, to increase satisfaction with your leisure time and tilt the balance towards activities you genuinely value.
7. Incorporate a Mid-Day Physical Activity Break
Aim for at least 10 minutes of physical activity by 3 p.m. each day, such as a brisk walk, to serve as a reset button, boost energy levels, and provide a conscious break from work, especially when energy naturally dips.
8. Define Habits as Three Times a Week
Adopt the mindset that anything happening three times a week counts as a habit and a regular part of your life, to avoid all-or-nothing thinking and make new goals (like family meals or hobbies) feel more achievable through small, consistent tweaks.
9. Designate Time to Batch Small Tasks
Create a specific, designated time slot to tackle all necessary but non-priority tasks (e.g., calling the plumber, filling out forms), to free up other time for deeper work or relaxation and remove the temptation of easy wins during focused work periods.
10. Approach Time Strategically
Cultivate a mindset of thinking strategically about your time, viewing it as a finite resource like money, and intentionally deciding what is most important to you, to start seeing results and direct your life’s course.
11. Track Your Time for a Week
Keep a detailed log of how you spend your time for one full week, using a spreadsheet or app, to gain accurate data on your current time allocation, identify patterns, and inform where you can make mindful changes.
12. Substitute Low-Value Activities
When you notice yourself engaging in low-value, effortless activities (like excessive scrolling), identify and substitute them with more fulfilling alternatives, such as reading a good book or doing a puzzle, to make better use of your time.
13. Prioritize Leisure & Family Time
Be as mindful and intentional about your leisure and family time as you are about work, actively thinking through what would be most meaningful and enjoyable for you and your loved ones, to ensure these precious hours are well-spent.
14. Ask “What Do I Need Right Now?”
Regularly ask yourself, ‘What do I need right now?’ to practice self-compassion and make flexible scheduling decisions that support your well-being, even if it means adjusting your work hours or daily plans.
15. Be Intentional About Weekend Work
If you choose to work on weekends for greater flexibility during the week, be intentional about it by setting clear goals for what you want to accomplish in those specific chunks of time, rather than just passively working.
16. Manage Communication for Weekend Work
If you are a leader who works non-traditional hours, confine your outreach to colleagues to traditional business hours (e.g., sending emails on Friday instead of Sunday night, or scheduling them to send Monday morning) and set clear communication norms to avoid pressuring others to work weekends.
5 Key Quotes
I think it's because we all have the same amount of time. It's one of the only things like that in the world.
Laura Vanderkam
If you don't give it a real one, it will take a fake one.
Laura Vanderkam
Anyone can create a perfect schedule. The true time management masters make a resilient schedule.
Laura Vanderkam
If it's hysterical, it's historical.
Dan Harris
What am I saving my energy for?
Laura Vanderkam
9 Protocols
Give Yourself a Bedtime
Laura Vanderkam- Figure out your necessary wake-up time.
- Subtract 7 to 8 hours (or your personal sleep need) to determine your ideal bedtime.
- Commit to getting into bed at that time most nights.
- Set a reminder to wind down 30 minutes before your bedtime.
Plan on Fridays
Laura Vanderkam- Designate a weekly planning time to look at the upcoming 168 hours.
- Ask yourself what is most important for the next week, professionally and personally.
- Identify specific steps you will take toward your goals.
- Solve any logistical problems and note what you are looking forward to.
Move by 3 PM
Laura Vanderkam- Do at least 10 minutes of physical activity at some point in the first half of every day.
- If you haven't moved by 3 PM, use that time as a reminder to take a physical break to boost energy.
Three Times a Week is a Habit
Laura Vanderkam- Identify an activity or goal you want to incorporate regularly into your life.
- Aim to schedule and complete this activity three times a week, rather than daily.
- Recognize that achieving this frequency counts as a consistent habit.
Create a Backup Slot
Laura Vanderkam- For anything truly important, don't just carve out one time slot, but also a backup time slot (a 'rain date').
- Build in more general open space in your schedule to accommodate unexpected events or seize opportunities.
One Big Adventure, One Little Adventure
Laura Vanderkam- Plan one 'big adventure' (3-4 hours) each week, such as a hike or trying a new restaurant.
- Plan one 'little adventure' (less than an hour) each week, like a picnic or visiting a new shop.
- Ensure these activities are out of the ordinary, novel, enjoyable, and memorable to create a rich sense of time.
Take One Night for You
Laura Vanderkam- Choose an activity that is not work, not caring for family, and is intrinsically fun for you.
- Make a commitment to this activity, ideally at the same time every single week, to ensure it happens.
- Recognize that this commitment has value and should be a priority in your life.
Batch the Little Things
Laura Vanderkam- Create a designated time slot (e.g., a 'chore window') to tackle all necessary but non-priority tasks.
- During other times, resist the temptation to do these small tasks, allowing for deeper work or relaxation.
Effortful Before Effortless
Laura Vanderkam- When leisure time appears, challenge yourself to do a few minutes of 'effortful fun' (e.g., reading, hobbies) first.
- After completing the effortful activity, you can then engage in 'effortless fun' like social media or passive TV if you still wish.