Reclaim Your Time & Take Back Control Of Your Life in 30 Minutes with Laura Vanderkam

In this episode we ask - how do you make decisions that let you see beyond your every day inbox, busy work, and demands of others? We uncover that there are huge mismatches between how you think you spend your time and how you actually spend it. We share you can deal with the fear, and the reality, of disappointing other people and not meeting their expectations and we share one simple strategy - in 30 minutes - that can help you reclaim control of your time with our guest Laura Vanderkam. 

Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books. Her TED talk titled “How To Gain Control of Your Free Time” has been viewed over 5 million times and she is the co-host of the podcast Best of Both Worlds. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune.While people are happy to get information, they remember it much better when its in the form of storiesYou should make time in your life for what’s important. Time is a choice, you’re ALWAYS choosing how you spend your time. You HAVE to choose how to spend your time, whether you want to or notWhat people often miss, especially when you try to be everything to everyone,  there are tradeoffs and opportunity costs to EVERYTHING - even if you don’t see it Saying yes to something is, by definition, saying no to something else. Every choice to do one thing is is, by definition, a choice to NOT do something else. Have you ever binged an entire book or TV series in a short amount of time? That’s proof that you have more time than you think, you’re just not spending it how you necessarily want to. How do you make decisions that let you see beyond your every day inbox, busy work, and demands of others?Envision your ideal future, and start to bring those things into your life. Your priorities should inform your scheduling choices. It’s that simple. And yet so few people do it. You must consciously choose to invest time in the things that matter to you. If you don’t your time will be TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU, by someone else’s priorities. It’s not a priority just because someone else thinks is it important or because society at large thinks it’s important. This doesn’t have to be huge chunks of time, even an hour or two a week can be transformational.Challenge yourself to find 30 mins a day, or 3.5hrs a week - of extra time per week. Anyone can achieve this. This can apply to both your PERSONAL life and to your professional life - too often we neglect one or the other or think time management only Is the bigger challenge to figure out your own priorities or just to make time for them?What questions or activities can you do to figure out what’s most important to you and where you SHOULD spend your time?How do you deal with the fear, and the reality, of disappointing other people and not meeting their expectations?What were you thinking about on today’s date, two years ago?Likewise, whatever is keeping you up now probably won’t matter in two yearsTrying to manage your time without measuring it is like losing weight without paying attention to your diet and exercise habits. There are HUGE mismatches between how you THINK you spend your time, and how you actually spend it. By doing a time audit you start to realize huge opportunities in your schedule and where you are spending your time.Often times the small chunks of time here and there start to add up - and don’t register on how you’re spending your time. Homework: Time tracking is the best starting point. Write down what you’ve done over the previous 24 hours. Try that out for a week. 

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