44: 168 Hours in a Week — Use Them or Lose Them

Recently, I read a book and wanted to give you guys my review on it. Laura Vanderkam is an amazing writer and a busy, busy mom! She explains how we all have 168 hours in a week, but if we don’t use those hours, we lose them.

How to Make the Best of 168 Hours in a Week

Today, I’ll share my takeaway from this book. I feel like a lot of us freelancers, and health care professionals struggle to balance the time and start a freelance business on the side. As you all know, I still work at the bedside, and often I get the question from people about how I make it work. Well, I have covered in the past episode about this in different ways. But this book helped me break down my time and energy for my day. One of the biggest words I used this year is “Intention.” I wanted to be intentional with my time and what I’m doing with my time.

Starting with the title 168 hours, all of us have 168 hours and a 7-day week, and that’s what the author Laura wanted to establish. We all have the same amount of time, so to say we don’t have enough time it’s because we are not using those hours the way we need to. I liked this book because sometimes I feel so scattered in my day that if I don’t plan my day, I can lose it. Have you ever had a day where you work but don’t feel productive? It’s probably because you don’t have a plan. So, to start with a good plan, what I usually do is what I call a “Brain Dump.”

It’s a little funny, but it makes sense. I have a fractioned list of what I need to do (like cat food, milk, article clients, and so on), and by doing this, you can get all of that stuff out of your mind and remind you to accomplish all of it.

Before I ever start planning my week, this is what I do then I categorize and prioritize it. The other thing the book does is help you break down your Core Confidence. It makes you realize the things that you are good at and outsource things that don’t make sense to your core confidence in life. This will make you think about the things in your job, personal life, and freelancing that you can let go of.

And the last thing I liked about this book was that I became intentional with my time. I made an ideal week calendar; as you guys know, nurses have a schedule that can be crazy! So making an ideal workweek calendar can help you get your time back! This is not about scheduling all the things in your life, it’s about giving you the feeling of accomplishment.

Other episodes in which I talk about managing time are:

• Episode 31- Mastering your Digital Calendar with Google Calendar
• Episode 35 – Batching Work: The Optimal Way to Productivity
• Episode 36 -When Should You Plan Your Week?

Laura’s book and website are listed here:

168 hours: You have more time than you think.

I recommend you add it to your reading list! It will really inspire you, no matter what part of the business you are in.

And I’m so excited to announce that my first course Plan, Create, Launch, Land, and Grow is now live! Can’t wait for you to be part of it!