0:00:00.990,0:00:04.845
When people find out[br]I write about time management,

0:00:04.845,0:00:06.736
they assume two things.

0:00:07.629,0:00:11.954
One is that I'm always on time,

0:00:11.954,0:00:13.263
and I'm not.

0:00:13.589,0:00:15.036
I have four small children,

0:00:15.036,0:00:17.945
and I would like to blame them[br]for my occasional tardiness,

0:00:17.945,0:00:20.124
but sometimes it's just not their fault.

0:00:20.492,0:00:23.424
I was once late to my own speech[br]on time management.

0:00:23.424,0:00:24.420
(Laughter)

0:00:24.420,0:00:27.820
We all had to just take a moment[br]together and savor that irony.

0:00:29.035,0:00:30.382
The second thing they assume

0:00:30.382,0:00:34.081
is that I have lots of tips and tricks[br]for saving bits of time here and there.

0:00:34.081,0:00:37.847
And sometimes I'll hear from magazines[br]that are doing a story along these lines,

0:00:37.847,0:00:41.221
generally on how to help their readers[br]find an extra hour in the day.

0:00:41.221,0:00:44.517
And the idea is that we'll shave[br]bits of time off everyday activities,

0:00:44.517,0:00:45.521
add it up,

0:00:45.521,0:00:47.553
and we'll have time for the good stuff.

0:00:47.553,0:00:51.024
And I question the entire [br]premise of this piece,

0:00:51.024,0:00:52.264
but I'm always interested

0:00:52.264,0:00:54.934
in hearing what they've come up with[br]before they call me.

0:00:54.934,0:00:55.933
Some of my favorites:

0:00:55.933,0:00:59.263
doing errands in a way where[br]you only have to make right-hand turns --

0:00:59.263,0:01:00.256
(Laughter)

0:01:00.256,0:01:02.492
Being extremely judicious[br]in microwave usage --

0:01:02.492,0:01:05.295
so it says three to three-and-a-half[br]minutes on the package,

0:01:05.295,0:01:07.733
we're totally getting in[br]on the bottom side of that.

0:01:07.733,0:01:08.922
And my personal favorite,

0:01:08.922,0:01:10.449
which makes sense on some level,

0:01:10.449,0:01:11.837
is to DVR your favorite shows

0:01:11.837,0:01:14.085
so you can fast-forward[br]through the commercials,

0:01:14.085,0:01:16.795
and that way you save about[br]eight minutes every half hour,

0:01:16.795,0:01:18.887
so in the course of two hours[br]of watching TV,

0:01:18.887,0:01:20.416
you find 32 minutes to exercise.

0:01:20.416,0:01:21.421
(Laughter)

0:01:21.421,0:01:22.730
Which is true.

0:01:22.730,0:01:25.351
You know another way to find[br]32 minutes to exercise?

0:01:25.677,0:01:28.032
Don't watch two hours of TV a day, right?

0:01:28.032,0:01:29.025
(Laughter)

0:01:29.025,0:01:31.913
Anyway, the idea is we'll save bits[br]of time here and there,

0:01:31.913,0:01:32.908
add it up,

0:01:32.908,0:01:35.143
we will finally get to[br]everything we want to do.

0:01:35.143,0:01:37.877
But after studying how successful[br]people spend their time,

0:01:37.877,0:01:40.784
and looking at their[br]schedules hour by hour,

0:01:40.784,0:01:43.898
I think this idea[br]has it completely backward.

0:01:44.536,0:01:48.578
We don't build the lives[br]we want by saving time.

0:01:48.578,0:01:50.867
We build the lives we want,

0:01:50.867,0:01:54.070
and then time saves itself.

0:01:55.245,0:01:56.247
Here's what I mean.

0:01:56.247,0:01:58.167
I recently did a time diary project

0:01:58.167,0:02:02.051
looking at 1,001 days in the lives[br]of extremely busy women.

0:02:02.371,0:02:03.658
They had demanding jobs,

0:02:03.658,0:02:05.138
sometimes their own businesses,

0:02:05.138,0:02:06.142
kids to care for,

0:02:06.142,0:02:07.401
maybe parents to care for,

0:02:07.401,0:02:08.695
community commitements --

0:02:08.695,0:02:10.508
busy, busy people.

0:02:10.828,0:02:12.966
I had them keep track[br]of their time for a week

0:02:12.966,0:02:15.255
so I could add up how much[br]they worked and slept,

0:02:15.255,0:02:17.992
and I interviewed them about[br]their strategies for my book.

0:02:17.992,0:02:19.964
One of the women whose[br]time log I studied,

0:02:19.964,0:02:22.241
she goes out on a Wednesday[br]night for something.

0:02:22.241,0:02:25.179
She comes home to find[br]that her water heater has broken,

0:02:25.179,0:02:27.815
and there is now water[br]all over her basement.

0:02:28.470,0:02:30.897
If you've ever had anything[br]like this happen to you,

0:02:30.897,0:02:33.846
you know it is a hugely damaging,[br]frightening, sopping mess.

0:02:33.846,0:02:36.525
So she's dealing with the immediate[br]aftermath that night,

0:02:36.525,0:02:38.353
next day she's got plumbers coming in,

0:02:38.353,0:02:39.353
day after that,

0:02:39.353,0:02:42.066
professional cleaning crew[br]dealing with the ruined carpet.

0:02:42.066,0:02:44.185
All this is being recorded[br]on her time log --

0:02:44.185,0:02:46.587
winds up taking seven hours of her week.

0:02:47.319,0:02:48.601
Seven hours.

0:02:49.267,0:02:52.069
That's like finding[br]an extra hour in the day.

0:02:52.850,0:02:55.620
But I'm sure if you had asked her[br]at the start of the week,

0:02:55.620,0:02:59.514
"Could you find seven hours[br]to train for a triathlon?

0:03:00.132,0:03:03.960
Could you find seven hours[br]to mentor seven worthy people?"

0:03:03.960,0:03:06.587
I'm sure she would've said[br]what most of us would've said

0:03:06.587,0:03:08.476
which is, "No.

0:03:08.476,0:03:11.263
Can't you see how busy I am?"

0:03:11.633,0:03:13.453
Yet when she had to find seven hours

0:03:13.453,0:03:16.388
because there is water[br]all over her basement,

0:03:16.388,0:03:18.767
she found seven hours.

0:03:19.167,0:03:23.318
And what this shows us[br]is that time is highly elastic.

0:03:23.682,0:03:25.850
We cannot make more time,

0:03:25.850,0:03:29.896
but time will stretch to accommodate[br]what we choose to put into it.

0:03:30.493,0:03:33.803
And so the key to time management

0:03:33.803,0:03:36.061
is treating our priorities

0:03:36.061,0:03:39.534
as the equivalent[br]of that broken water heater.

0:03:40.341,0:03:41.336
And to get at this,

0:03:41.336,0:03:45.000
I like to use some language from one[br]of the busiest people I ever interviewed.

0:03:45.000,0:03:47.190
By busy I mean she was[br]running a small business

0:03:47.190,0:03:48.640
with 12 people on the payroll,

0:03:48.640,0:03:50.820
she had six children[br]in her spare time.

0:03:50.820,0:03:53.350
I was getting in touch with her[br]to set up an interview

0:03:53.350,0:03:54.610
on how she "had it all" --

0:03:54.610,0:03:56.010
that phrase --

0:03:56.010,0:03:57.750
I remember it was a Thursday morning

0:03:57.750,0:03:59.780
and she was not available[br]to speak with me,

0:03:59.780,0:04:00.940
of course, right?

0:04:00.940,0:04:03.340
But the reason she was[br]unavailable to speak with me

0:04:03.340,0:04:05.470
is that she was out for a hike,

0:04:05.470,0:04:07.490
because it was a beautiful spring morning,

0:04:07.490,0:04:09.080
and she wanted to go for a hike.

0:04:09.080,0:04:11.440
So of course this makes me[br]even more intrigued,

0:04:11.440,0:04:13.360
and when I finally do catch up with her,

0:04:13.360,0:04:14.600
she explains it like this,

0:04:14.600,0:04:15.800
she says, "Listen Laura,

0:04:15.800,0:04:17.830
everything I do,

0:04:17.830,0:04:19.460
every minute I spend

0:04:19.460,0:04:21.600
is my choice."

0:04:21.992,0:04:23.156
And rather than say,

0:04:23.156,0:04:26.131
"I don't have time to do x, y or z,"

0:04:26.131,0:04:30.893
she'd say, "I don't do x, y or z[br]because it's not a priority."

0:04:31.805,0:04:36.435
"I don't have time," often means[br]"It's not a priority."

0:04:37.123,0:04:38.357
If you think about it,

0:04:38.357,0:04:40.151
that's really more accurate language.

0:04:40.151,0:04:42.973
I mean I could tell you I don't[br]have time to dust my blinds,

0:04:42.973,0:04:43.967
but that's not true.

0:04:43.967,0:04:46.539
If you offered to pay me $100,000[br]to go dust my blinds,

0:04:46.539,0:04:48.110
I would get to it pretty quickly.

0:04:48.110,0:04:49.107
(Laughter)

0:04:49.107,0:04:50.730
Since that is not going to happen,

0:04:50.730,0:04:53.302
I can acknowledge this is not[br]a matter of lacking time,

0:04:53.302,0:04:54.971
it's that I don't want to do it.

0:04:54.971,0:04:58.458
Using this language reminds us[br]that time is a choice.

0:04:58.458,0:04:59.572
And granted,

0:04:59.572,0:05:02.590
there may be horrible consequences[br]for making different choices,

0:05:02.590,0:05:03.868
I will give you that,

0:05:03.868,0:05:05.628
but we are smart people,

0:05:05.628,0:05:07.509
and certainly over the long-run,

0:05:07.509,0:05:12.352
we have the power to fill our lives[br]with the things that deserve to be there.

0:05:13.323,0:05:15.358
So how do we do that?

0:05:15.358,0:05:16.813
How do we treat our priorities

0:05:16.813,0:05:19.396
as the equivalent[br]of that broken water heater?

0:05:19.749,0:05:22.001
Well first we need[br]to figure out what they are,

0:05:22.001,0:05:24.916
and I want to give you two strategies[br]for thinking about this.

0:05:24.916,0:05:26.596
The first on the professional side.

0:05:26.596,0:05:29.074
I'm sure many people[br]coming up to the end of the year

0:05:29.074,0:05:31.374
are giving or getting[br]annual performance reviews.

0:05:31.374,0:05:33.621
You look back over your[br]successes over the year,

0:05:33.621,0:05:36.122
your "opportunities for growth,"

0:05:36.122,0:05:38.507
and this serves its purpose,

0:05:38.507,0:05:41.246
but I find it's more effective[br]to do this looking forward.

0:05:41.246,0:05:44.126
So I want you to pretend[br]it's the end of next year.

0:05:44.509,0:05:46.893
You're giving yourself[br]a performance review,

0:05:46.893,0:05:51.674
and it has been an absolutely[br]amazing year for you professionally.

0:05:52.082,0:05:58.051
What three-to-five things did you do[br]that made it so amazing?

0:05:58.822,0:06:02.510
So you can write next year's[br]performance review now.

0:06:02.645,0:06:04.858
And you can do this for you[br]personal life, too.

0:06:04.858,0:06:05.859
I'm sure many of you,

0:06:05.859,0:06:06.864
like me,

0:06:06.864,0:06:07.857
come December,

0:06:07.857,0:06:11.770
get cards that contain these folded up[br]sheets of colored paper

0:06:11.770,0:06:16.577
on which is written what is known[br]as the family holiday letter.

0:06:16.830,0:06:17.839
(Laughter)

0:06:18.071,0:06:20.816
Bit of a wretched genre[br]of literature really,

0:06:20.816,0:06:24.247
going on about how amazing[br]everyone in the household is,

0:06:24.247,0:06:25.541
or even more scintillating,

0:06:25.541,0:06:27.958
how busy everyone in the household is.

0:06:27.958,0:06:29.580
But these letters serve a purpose,

0:06:29.580,0:06:31.780
which is that they tell[br]your friends and family

0:06:31.780,0:06:34.367
what you did in your personal life[br]that mattered to you

0:06:34.367,0:06:35.717
over the course of the year.

0:06:35.717,0:06:37.051
So this year's kind of done,

0:06:37.051,0:06:39.486
but I want you to pretend[br]it's the end of next year,

0:06:39.486,0:06:42.506
and it has been an absolutely amazing year

0:06:42.506,0:06:45.159
for you and the people you care about.

0:06:45.582,0:06:50.140
What three-to-five things did you do[br]that made it so amazing?

0:06:51.069,0:06:55.414
So you can write next year's[br]family holiday letter now.

0:06:55.901,0:06:57.534
Don't send it ...

0:06:57.534,0:06:58.532
(Laughter)

0:06:58.532,0:06:59.900
Please,

0:06:59.900,0:07:01.181
don't send it.

0:07:01.181,0:07:02.597
But you can write it.

0:07:02.597,0:07:06.440
And now between the performance[br]review and the family holiday letter,

0:07:06.440,0:07:09.563
we have a list of six-to-10 goals[br]we can work on in the next year.

0:07:09.563,0:07:12.090
And now we need to break[br]these down into doable steps.

0:07:12.090,0:07:14.678
So maybe you want[br]to write a family history.

0:07:14.678,0:07:17.156
Well, first you can read[br]some other family histories,

0:07:17.156,0:07:18.411
get a sense for the style.

0:07:18.411,0:07:21.599
Then maybe think about the questions[br]you want to ask your relatives,

0:07:21.599,0:07:23.420
set up appointments to interview them.

0:07:23.420,0:07:24.873
Or maybe you want to run a 5K,

0:07:24.873,0:07:26.759
so you need to find a race and sign up,

0:07:26.759,0:07:28.289
and figure out a training plan,

0:07:28.289,0:07:30.633
and dig those shoes[br]out of the back of the closet.

0:07:30.633,0:07:31.629
And then --

0:07:31.629,0:07:32.626
this is key --

0:07:32.626,0:07:36.615
we treat our priorities as the equivalent[br]of that broken water heater

0:07:36.615,0:07:39.614
by putting them into our schedules first.

0:07:39.998,0:07:44.781
And we do this by thinking through[br]our weeks before we are in them.

0:07:44.781,0:07:48.465
I find a really good time to do this[br]is Friday afternoons.

0:07:49.021,0:07:54.220
Friday afternoon is what an economist[br]a "low opportunity cost" time.

0:07:54.852,0:07:57.775
Most of us are not sitting there[br]on Friday afternoons saying,

0:07:57.775,0:07:59.713
"I am excited to make progress

0:07:59.713,0:08:03.344
toward my personal and[br]professional priorities right now."

0:08:03.344,0:08:04.344
(Laughter)

0:08:04.344,0:08:06.915
But we are willing to think[br]about what those should be.

0:08:06.915,0:08:09.069
So take a little bit[br]of time Friday afternoon,

0:08:09.069,0:08:11.747
make yourself a[br]three-category priority list:

0:08:11.747,0:08:15.412
career, relationships, self.

0:08:16.382,0:08:18.947
Making a three-category list

0:08:18.947,0:08:23.240
reminds us that there should be[br]something in all three categories.

0:08:23.240,0:08:24.623
Career we think about;

0:08:24.623,0:08:26.153
relationships, self --

0:08:26.153,0:08:27.438
not so much.

0:08:27.438,0:08:29.359
But anyway, just a short list,

0:08:29.359,0:08:31.093
two-to-three items in each.

0:08:31.093,0:08:33.606
Then look out over the whole[br]of the next week,

0:08:33.606,0:08:35.595
and see where you can plan them in.

0:08:36.227,0:08:38.260
Where you plan them in is up to you.

0:08:38.260,0:08:41.837
And I know this is going to be more[br]complicated for some people than others.

0:08:41.837,0:08:45.359
I mean some people's lives[br]are just harder than others.

0:08:45.809,0:08:49.167
It is not going to be easy to find[br]time to take that poetry class

0:08:49.167,0:08:51.943
if you are caring for multiple[br]children on your own.

0:08:52.185,0:08:53.190
I get that.

0:08:53.190,0:08:55.593
And I don't want to minimize[br]anyone's struggle,

0:08:55.593,0:09:00.299
but I do think that the numbers[br]I am about to tell you are empowering.

0:09:01.081,0:09:05.088
There are 168 hours in a week.

0:09:06.097,0:09:10.798
24 times seven is 168 hours.

0:09:11.510,0:09:14.243
That is a lot of time.

0:09:14.808,0:09:16.477
If you are working a full-time job,

0:09:16.477,0:09:18.070
so 40 hours a week,

0:09:18.070,0:09:19.407
sleeping 8 hours a night,

0:09:19.407,0:09:21.184
so 56 hours a week --

0:09:21.184,0:09:23.764
that leaves 72 hours for other things.

0:09:24.725,0:09:26.819
That is a lot of time.

0:09:27.092,0:09:29.000
You say you're working 50 hours a week,

0:09:29.000,0:09:30.969
maybe a main job and a side hustle.

0:09:30.969,0:09:33.380
Well that leaves 62 hours[br]for other things.

0:09:33.380,0:09:35.459
You say you're working 60 hours,

0:09:35.459,0:09:37.698
well that leaves 52 hours[br]for other things.

0:09:37.698,0:09:39.771
You say you're working more than 60 hours.

0:09:39.771,0:09:41.352
Well, are you sure?

0:09:41.352,0:09:42.682
(Laughter)

0:09:43.241,0:09:46.151
There was once a study comparing[br]people's estimated work weeks

0:09:46.151,0:09:47.681
with time diaries --

0:09:47.681,0:09:50.380
found that people claiming[br]75-plus hour work weeks

0:09:50.380,0:09:52.507
we off by about 25 hours.

0:09:52.507,0:09:54.085
(Laughter)

0:09:54.085,0:09:56.406
You can guess in which direction, right?

0:09:57.648,0:09:58.647
Anyway,

0:09:58.647,0:10:00.028
in 168 hours a week,

0:10:00.028,0:10:02.775
I think we can find time[br]for what matters to you.

0:10:03.015,0:10:05.194
If you want to spend[br]more time with your kids,

0:10:05.194,0:10:07.522
you want to study more[br]for a test you're taking,

0:10:07.522,0:10:10.864
you want to exercise for three hours[br]and volunteer for two,

0:10:10.864,0:10:11.856
you can.

0:10:11.856,0:10:15.502
And that's even if you're working[br]way more than full-time hours.

0:10:15.903,0:10:17.148
So we have plenty of time,

0:10:17.148,0:10:18.154
which is great,

0:10:18.154,0:10:19.403
because guess what?

0:10:19.403,0:10:22.094
We don't even need that much[br]time to do amazing things.

0:10:22.594,0:10:24.400
But when most of us have bits of time,

0:10:24.400,0:10:25.419
what do we do?

0:10:25.860,0:10:27.890
Pull out the phone, right?

0:10:27.890,0:10:30.083
Start deleting emails,

0:10:30.083,0:10:32.674
or otherwise we're puttering[br]around the house,

0:10:32.674,0:10:33.934
or watching TV.

0:10:34.329,0:10:37.182
But small moments can have great power.

0:10:37.776,0:10:40.212
You can use your bits of time

0:10:40.212,0:10:42.581
for bits of joy.

0:10:43.330,0:10:47.339
Maybe it's choosing to read something[br]wonderful on the bus on the way to work.

0:10:47.584,0:10:48.696
I know when I had a job

0:10:48.696,0:10:51.505
that required two bus rides[br]and a subway ride every morning,

0:10:51.505,0:10:54.369
I used to go to the library[br]on weekends to get stuff to read.

0:10:54.369,0:10:56.887
It made the whole experience almost ...

0:10:56.887,0:10:59.445
almost enjoyable.

0:10:59.857,0:11:03.044
Breaks at work can be used[br]for meditating or praying.

0:11:03.586,0:11:06.803
If family dinner is out because[br]of your crazy work schedule,

0:11:06.803,0:11:09.552
maybe family breakfast[br]could be a good substitute.

0:11:10.010,0:11:13.374
It's about looking at[br]the whole of one's time,

0:11:13.374,0:11:15.776
and seeing where the good stuff can go.

0:11:16.687,0:11:18.400
I truly believe this.

0:11:19.269,0:11:21.970
There is time.

0:11:23.164,0:11:25.453
Even if we are busy,

0:11:25.453,0:11:27.435
we have time for what matters.

0:11:27.879,0:11:30.438
And when we focus on what matters,

0:11:30.438,0:11:33.027
we can build the lives we want

0:11:33.027,0:11:34.518
in the time we've got.

0:11:34.758,0:11:35.866
Thank you.

0:11:35.866,0:11:37.236
(Applause)