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9 Strategies To Better Control Your Time - Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam is a time management expert and an author. Time is non-renewable. It's the single most important asset we have, and yet almost everyone wishes they spent their time differently.

Laura VanderkamguestChris Williamsonhost

Nov 19, 20221h 1mWatch on YouTube ↗

Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.

CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

The invisible time sink: “hours of time, no recollection”
Laura opens with a diagnosis of where time often disappears: untracked, unmemorable stretches that aren’t clearly work or rest. This “nothing time” becomes the biggest culprit because it’s neither intentional nor enjoyable, yet can consume large portions of a week.
- •Unclear, undescribed time is often the biggest source of lost hours
- •Time can pass without creating memories or satisfaction
- •Recognizing “nothing time” is the first step to reclaiming control
Why time management feels overwhelming (and why it’s not uniquely modern)
Chris and Laura explore why people feel swamped: time keeps passing regardless, and mindful direction takes effort. Laura argues every era had its distractions and busyness narratives, so the core challenge is timeless—intentionality amid life’s swirl.
- •Time passes no matter what; directing it requires stepping back
- •“Modern distractions” aren’t the whole story—people always felt busy
- •Intentionality is the lever that cuts through chaos
- •Historical perspective: past generations complained similarly
The 168-hour week: the missing denominator in people’s planning
Laura explains a common error: not understanding the total amount of time available in a week. By framing life in 168 hours, people can see proportions more accurately—like how a 40-hour job still leaves substantial discretionary time.
- •Most people don’t know there are 168 hours in a week
- •Weeks provide a truer picture of life than individual days
- •A 40-hour job plus 8 hours/night sleep still leaves ~72 hours
- •Time tracking for a week reveals real patterns and opportunities
Screens, meetings, email—and the bigger problem of unchosen time
They discuss what shocks people when they track time, including phone usage and workplace inefficiencies. Laura emphasizes that beyond screens, the largest drain is often time spent without awareness or intention—hard to even label.
- •Screen Time reports can reveal surprising daily usage
- •Work distractions: constant email checking and unnecessary meetings
- •The hardest-to-fix category: time you can’t explain afterward
- •Low-intent time is rarely memorable or fulfilling
Build the life you want first: stop chasing tiny ‘time-saving’ hacks
Laura unpacks her quote about building the life you want instead of obsessing over micro-optimizations. The focus should be choosing what deserves time and scheduling it—because meaningful commitments crowd out low-value drift.
- •Micro-hacks (e.g., typing “K” for “okay”) don’t create a meaningful life
- •Start by identifying what you want your 168 hours to contain
- •Commitments (choir, outings) displace low-value default time
- •Leisure takes intention and sometimes real effort to design well
Take one night for you: fun, commitment, and letting go of being indispensable
They explore Laura’s rule of carving out two hours for intrinsically enjoyable activities—distinct from work and caretaking. Commitment makes self-care real (teams/classes beat “I’ll take a bath”), and it also challenges the belief that everything collapses without you.
- •Choose an intrinsically enjoyable activity, not chores or admin
- •Commitments create follow-through; vague intentions get displaced
- •People overestimate how indispensable they are (fear/arrogance)
- •The world keeps spinning if you step away for two hours
Rule 1: Give yourself a bedtime (sleep debt always gets repaid)
Laura argues that bedtime is a simple math problem tied to wake time and sleep needs. Skimping on sleep doesn’t save time; it just forces repayment later via crashes, weekend sleep-ins, or couch naps—often at worse moments.
- •Bedtime is calculated: wake time minus needed sleep
- •Sleep debt will be repaid—just in less convenient ways
- •Late nights often feel like ‘me time,’ but crowd out better days
- •Use a wind-down cue (alarm/reminder) to make bedtime happen
Rule 2: Plan on Fridays for calmer weekends and stronger Mondays
Laura recommends a designated weekly planning session, ideally Friday afternoon, to view the week holistically across career, relationships, and self. Planning Friday reduces Sunday-night anxiety, uses Monday better, and helps spot logistical problems early.
- •Weekly planning prevents day-to-day tunnel vision
- •Plan around three domains: career, relationships, self
- •Friday works: lower energy for deep work, but ideal for organizing
- •Leaving work with a Monday plan reduces weekend dread
Rule 3: Move by 3 PM—daily motion as a foundational energy habit
Laura reframes exercise as daily movement, not only intense gym sessions. A small dose—10 minutes before 3 PM—builds consistency, boosts mood/energy, and forces strategic thinking about where movement fits in a packed day.
- •Physical activity can be short, equipment-free, and still valuable
- •10 minutes before 3 PM creates a reliable daily baseline
- •Intentional movement breaks counter sedentary workdays
- •The rule teaches strategic calendar thinking, not just fitness
Rule 4: Three times a week is a habit—make “regular” doable
Laura challenges the default belief that habits must be daily. Three times a week is enough to create identity and progress while avoiding perfectionism that leads to quitting; daily habits should be small to remain sustainable.
- •Daily is often unrealistic; many ‘daily’ habits are actually 5x/week
- •3x/week bridges “sometimes” to “regularly” with less friction
- •Examples: workouts, music practice, language, family connection
- •Identity and autonomy boost wellbeing during the ‘busy years’
Rule 5: Create backup slots—build resilient schedules with open space
Laura introduces the “rain date” concept: important plans need an automatic reschedule option or dedicated open space. Resilient schedules reduce frustration when life intervenes and increase openness to opportunity rather than forcing constant triage.
- •Life predictably disrupts plans; schedules must anticipate that
- •Use ‘rain dates’ for key meetings and personal commitments
- •Open space enables recovery from crises and seizing opportunities
- •More moving parts (kids/care) generally require more buffer
Rule 6: One big adventure, one little adventure—make time feel richer
To fight the sameness of adult routines and “memory sinkholes,” Laura recommends two weekly adventures: a 3–4 hour big one and a <1 hour small one. Novel experiences create more memories, which expands the subjective feeling of time.
- •Routines help, but too much sameness makes years blur together
- •Two adventures/week is sustainable and not financially extreme
- •More memories make time feel longer in retrospect
- •Anticipation and planning amplify the enjoyment
Rule 7: Batch the little things—protect deep work and reduce procrastination
Laura explains how small tasks consume disproportionate mental space when scattered throughout the day. Batching them into a defined window preserves focus, creates more open space, and removes “easy wins” that often mask procrastination.
- •Scattered small tasks fragment attention and steal brain space
- •Batching creates protected blocks for deep work and rest
- •Little tasks are a common procrastination tool (productive avoidance)
- •Defined windows make priorities clearer and execution cleaner
Rule 8 & 9 mindset: shorter to-do lists and ‘effortful before effortless’ leisure
Laura advises treating a to-do list as a realistic contract, not an endless wish list, to avoid chronic guilt and diffusion. She closes with “effortful before effortless”: do a few minutes of high-quality leisure (reading, puzzles, hobbies) before default screen time to rebalance how free time is used.
- •Overlong to-do lists lack prioritization and create needless shame
- •Choose a small number of true priorities you intend to complete
- •Screens perfectly fit low-energy, uncertain leisure—so they dominate by default
- •Insert a small dose of effortful fun first to shift leisure quality
How to adopt the nine rules without overwhelm + where to find Laura
Laura explains her nine-week rollout method from a 150-person experiment: introduce one rule per week in a deliberate order (sleep first, then planning). She wraps with where to learn more about her work, including her website and daily podcast.
- •Introduce one rule per week; layer habits gradually
- •Order matters: sleep enables everything; planning enables placement
- •Expect reminders and iteration—habit formation takes time
- •Resources: lauravanderkam.com and the ‘Before Breakfast’ podcast

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