Book #115: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam

I read this book a few years ago and enjoyed it enough that I bought a copy so that I could revisit it. And I've talked about it enough and mentioned it to enough people that when our book club ended up scrambling for a last-minute book replacement my friend thought this one could be a great one. Ironically, though, I didn't get around to reading it until last minute, so I only read about 2/3 of it and skimmed the rest. Since the message of the book is basically "you have time for anything you want to do, if you choose to make time for it," I was determined not to completely miss reading this, but I didn't get all the way through it.

I love the overall message of this book, and the way she sorts through the number of hours in a week to show that really, you can make time for things if you choose to, really helped to open my mind. However, I was glad we were able to talk about it at book club last night because there were lots of things I didn't love about it. She seems to think you should outsource any chores or jobs around the house you don't love (aka, all of them?) and she also doesn't seem to take into account how long it takes to get ready or personal care in all her accounts of how long it takes to do things. Also, it's easy to make a chart of what you're going to do with your time every day, but when you have kids, there's no way to predict how long some things will take (for example, I'm typing this with Lucy on my lap and being interrupted by Dane every 5 seconds, so it's taken way longer than it should have). But one thing she says in the book totally changed my worldview--she says, it's not that we don't have time to do most things, it's that it's not a priority. I could manage to spend more time getting ready every day and wear make-up and do my hair if I wanted it--but it's just not a priority. But I do manage to read for a chunk of every day, because it's something that rejuvenates me and makes me happier. But I would love to find another goal that I could also make a priority and use some more time in that way too.