How to gain control of your free time
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0:01 - 0:04When people find out
I write about time management, -
0:05 - 0:06they assume two things.
-
0:08 - 0:11One is that I'm always on time,
-
0:12 - 0:13and I'm not.
-
0:14 - 0:15I have four small children,
-
0:15 - 0:18and I would like to blame them
for my occasional tardiness, -
0:18 - 0:20but sometimes it's just not their fault.
-
0:20 - 0:23I was once late to my own speech
on time management. -
0:23 - 0:24(Laughter)
-
0:24 - 0:28We all had to just take a moment
together and savor that irony. -
0:29 - 0:32The second thing they assume
is that I have lots of tips and tricks -
0:32 - 0:34for saving bits of time here and there.
-
0:34 - 0:38Sometimes I'll hear from magazines
that are doing a story along these lines, -
0:38 - 0:41generally on how to help their readers
find an extra hour in the day. -
0:41 - 0:45And the idea is that we'll shave
bits of time off everyday activities, -
0:45 - 0:46add it up,
-
0:46 - 0:48and we'll have time for the good stuff.
-
0:48 - 0:52I question the entire premise
of this piece, but I'm always interested -
0:52 - 0:55in hearing what they've come
up with before they call me. -
0:55 - 0:56Some of my favorites:
-
0:56 - 0:59doing errands where you only
have to make right-hand turns -- -
0:59 - 1:00(Laughter)
-
1:00 - 1:02Being extremely judicious
in microwave usage: -
1:02 - 1:05it says three to three-and-a-half
minutes on the package, -
1:05 - 1:07we're totally getting in on
the bottom side of that. -
1:07 - 1:10And my personal favorite,
which makes sense on some level, -
1:10 - 1:14is to DVR your favorite shows so you can
fast-forward through the commercials. -
1:14 - 1:16That way, you save
eight minutes every half hour, -
1:16 - 1:18so in the course of two hours
of watching TV, -
1:18 - 1:20you find 32 minutes to exercise.
-
1:20 - 1:21(Laughter)
-
1:21 - 1:22Which is true.
-
1:23 - 1:25You know another way to find
32 minutes to exercise? -
1:26 - 1:28Don't watch two hours of TV a day, right?
-
1:28 - 1:29(Laughter)
-
1:29 - 1:32Anyway, the idea is we'll save bits
of time here and there, add it up, -
1:33 - 1:35we will finally get
to everything we want to do. -
1:35 - 1:38But after studying how successful
people spend their time -
1:38 - 1:40and looking at their
schedules hour by hour, -
1:40 - 1:44I think this idea
has it completely backward. -
1:44 - 1:48We don't build the lives
we want by saving time. -
1:49 - 1:50We build the lives we want,
-
1:51 - 1:54and then time saves itself.
-
1:55 - 1:56Here's what I mean.
-
1:56 - 1:58I recently did a time diary project
-
1:58 - 2:02looking at 1,001 days in the lives
of extremely busy women. -
2:02 - 2:05They had demanding jobs,
sometimes their own businesses, -
2:05 - 2:07kids to care for,
maybe parents to care for, -
2:07 - 2:08community commitments --
-
2:08 - 2:10busy, busy people.
-
2:11 - 2:13I had them keep track
of their time for a week -
2:13 - 2:15so I could add up how much
they worked and slept, -
2:15 - 2:18and I interviewed them
about their strategies, for my book. -
2:18 - 2:20One of the women whose time log I studied
-
2:20 - 2:22goes out on a Wednesday night
for something. -
2:22 - 2:25She comes home to find
that her water heater has broken, -
2:25 - 2:28and there is now water
all over her basement. -
2:28 - 2:31If you've ever had anything
like this happen to you, -
2:31 - 2:34you know it is a hugely damaging,
frightening, sopping mess. -
2:34 - 2:36So she's dealing with the immediate
aftermath that night, -
2:36 - 2:38next day she's got plumbers coming in,
-
2:38 - 2:42day after that, professional cleaning
crew dealing with the ruined carpet. -
2:42 - 2:44All this is being recorded
on her time log. -
2:44 - 2:46Winds up taking seven hours of her week.
-
2:47 - 2:48Seven hours.
-
2:49 - 2:52That's like finding
an extra hour in the day. -
2:53 - 2:56But I'm sure if you had asked her
at the start of the week, -
2:56 - 2:59"Could you find seven hours
to train for a triathlon?" -
3:00 - 3:04"Could you find seven hours
to mentor seven worthy people?" -
3:04 - 3:06I'm sure she would've said
what most of us would've said, -
3:06 - 3:11which is, "No -- can't you see
how busy I am?" -
3:12 - 3:13Yet when she had to find seven hours
-
3:13 - 3:16because there is water
all over her basement, -
3:16 - 3:19she found seven hours.
-
3:19 - 3:23And what this shows us
is that time is highly elastic. -
3:24 - 3:26We cannot make more time,
-
3:26 - 3:30but time will stretch to accommodate
what we choose to put into it. -
3:30 - 3:33And so the key to time management
-
3:34 - 3:36is treating our priorities
-
3:36 - 3:39as the equivalent
of that broken water heater. -
3:40 - 3:41To get at this,
-
3:41 - 3:45I like to use language from one
of the busiest people I ever interviewed. -
3:45 - 3:47By busy, I mean she was running
a small business -
3:47 - 3:49with 12 people on the payroll,
-
3:49 - 3:51she had six children in her spare time.
-
3:51 - 3:53I was getting in touch with her
to set up an interview -
3:53 - 3:56on how she "had it all" -- that phrase.
-
3:56 - 3:58I remember it was a Thursday morning,
-
3:58 - 4:00and she was not available
to speak with me. -
4:00 - 4:01Of course, right?
-
4:01 - 4:03But the reason she was
unavailable to speak with me -
4:03 - 4:05is that she was out for a hike,
-
4:05 - 4:07because it was a beautiful spring morning,
-
4:07 - 4:09and she wanted to go for a hike.
-
4:09 - 4:11So of course this makes me
even more intrigued, -
4:11 - 4:14and when I finally do catch up with her,
she explains it like this. -
4:14 - 4:17She says, "Listen Laura, everything I do,
-
4:18 - 4:21every minute I spend, is my choice."
-
4:22 - 4:23And rather than say,
-
4:23 - 4:25"I don't have time to do x, y or z,"
-
4:26 - 4:31she'd say, "I don't do x, y or z
because it's not a priority." -
4:32 - 4:36"I don't have time," often means
"It's not a priority." -
4:37 - 4:40If you think about it,
that's really more accurate language. -
4:40 - 4:43I could tell you I don't have time
to dust my blinds, -
4:43 - 4:44but that's not true.
-
4:44 - 4:46If you offered to pay me $100,000
to dust my blinds, -
4:46 - 4:48I would get to it pretty quickly.
-
4:48 - 4:49(Laughter)
-
4:49 - 4:51Since that is not going to happen,
-
4:51 - 4:53I can acknowledge this is not
a matter of lacking time; -
4:53 - 4:55it's that I don't want to do it.
-
4:55 - 4:58Using this language reminds us
that time is a choice. -
4:58 - 4:59And granted,
-
4:59 - 5:02there may be horrible consequences
for making different choices, -
5:02 - 5:04I will give you that.
-
5:04 - 5:05But we are smart people,
-
5:05 - 5:07and certainly over the long run,
-
5:07 - 5:09we have the power to fill our lives
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5:09 - 5:12with the things that deserve to be there.
-
5:13 - 5:14So how do we do that?
-
5:15 - 5:17How do we treat our priorities
-
5:17 - 5:19as the equivalent
of that broken water heater? -
5:20 - 5:22Well, first we need
to figure out what they are. -
5:22 - 5:25I want to give you two strategies
for thinking about this. -
5:25 - 5:26The first, on the professional side:
-
5:26 - 5:29I'm sure many people
coming up to the end of the year -
5:29 - 5:31are giving or getting
annual performance reviews. -
5:31 - 5:34You look back over
your successes over the year, -
5:34 - 5:36your "opportunities for growth."
-
5:36 - 5:38And this serves its purpose,
-
5:38 - 5:41but I find it's more effective
to do this looking forward. -
5:41 - 5:44So I want you to pretend
it's the end of next year. -
5:44 - 5:47You're giving yourself
a performance review, -
5:47 - 5:51and it has been an absolutely
amazing year for you professionally. -
5:52 - 5:58What three to five things did you do
that made it so amazing? -
5:59 - 6:03So you can write next
year's performance review now. -
6:03 - 6:05And you can do this
for your personal life, too. -
6:05 - 6:07I'm sure many of you,
like me, come December, -
6:07 - 6:11get cards that contain these folded up
sheets of colored paper, -
6:11 - 6:16on which is written what is known
as the family holiday letter. -
6:16 - 6:18(Laughter)
-
6:18 - 6:21Bit of a wretched genre
of literature, really, -
6:21 - 6:24going on about how amazing
everyone in the household is, -
6:24 - 6:25or even more scintillating,
-
6:25 - 6:27how busy everyone in the household is.
-
6:28 - 6:29But these letters serve a purpose,
-
6:29 - 6:32which is that they tell
your friends and family -
6:32 - 6:35what you did in your personal life
that mattered to you over the year. -
6:35 - 6:36So this year's kind of done,
-
6:36 - 6:39but I want you to pretend
it's the end of next year, -
6:39 - 6:42and it has been an absolutely amazing year
-
6:42 - 6:45for you and the people you care about.
-
6:45 - 6:50What three to five things did you do
that made it so amazing? -
6:51 - 6:55So you can write next
year's family holiday letter now. -
6:56 - 6:57Don't send it.
-
6:57 - 6:58(Laughter)
-
6:58 - 7:01Please, don't send it.
-
7:01 - 7:02But you can write it.
-
7:02 - 7:06And now, between the performance
review and the family holiday letter, -
7:06 - 7:09we have a list of six to ten goals
we can work on in the next year. -
7:09 - 7:12And now we need to break
these down into doable steps. -
7:12 - 7:14So maybe you want
to write a family history. -
7:15 - 7:17First, you can read
some other family histories, -
7:17 - 7:18get a sense for the style.
-
7:18 - 7:21Then maybe think about the questions
you want to ask your relatives, -
7:21 - 7:23set up appointments to interview them.
-
7:23 - 7:25Or maybe you want to run a 5K.
-
7:25 - 7:28So you need to find a race and sign up,
figure out a training plan, -
7:28 - 7:30and dig those shoes
out of the back of the closet. -
7:30 - 7:32And then -- this is key --
-
7:32 - 7:36we treat our priorities as the equivalent
of that broken water heater, -
7:36 - 7:39by putting them into our schedules first.
-
7:40 - 7:45We do this by thinking through our weeks
before we are in them. -
7:45 - 7:48I find a really good time to do this
is Friday afternoons. -
7:49 - 7:51Friday afternoon is what
an economist might call -
7:51 - 7:54a "low opportunity cost" time.
-
7:55 - 7:58Most of us are not sitting there
on Friday afternoons saying, -
7:58 - 8:00"I am excited to make progress
-
8:00 - 8:02toward my personal
and professional priorities -
8:02 - 8:03right now."
-
8:03 - 8:04(Laughter)
-
8:04 - 8:07But we are willing to think
about what those should be. -
8:07 - 8:09So take a little bit
of time Friday afternoon, -
8:09 - 8:15make yourself a three-category priority
list: career, relationships, self. -
8:16 - 8:20Making a three-category list reminds us
-
8:20 - 8:23that there should be something
in all three categories. -
8:23 - 8:24Career, we think about;
-
8:24 - 8:26relationships, self --
-
8:26 - 8:27not so much.
-
8:27 - 8:29But anyway, just a short list,
-
8:29 - 8:31two to three items in each.
-
8:31 - 8:33Then look out over the whole
of the next week, -
8:33 - 8:35and see where you can plan them in.
-
8:36 - 8:38Where you plan them in is up to you.
-
8:38 - 8:42I know this is going to be more
complicated for some people than others. -
8:42 - 8:45I mean, some people's lives
are just harder than others. -
8:46 - 8:49It is not going to be easy
to find time to take that poetry class -
8:49 - 8:52if you are caring for multiple
children on your own. -
8:52 - 8:53I get that.
-
8:53 - 8:55And I don't want to minimize
anyone's struggle. -
8:55 - 9:00But I do think that the numbers
I am about to tell you are empowering. -
9:01 - 9:05There are 168 hours in a week.
-
9:06 - 9:11Twenty-four times seven is 168 hours.
-
9:11 - 9:14That is a lot of time.
-
9:15 - 9:18If you are working a full-time
job, so 40 hours a week, -
9:18 - 9:21sleeping eight hours a night,
so 56 hours a week -- -
9:21 - 9:24that leaves 72 hours for other things.
-
9:25 - 9:27That is a lot of time.
-
9:27 - 9:29You say you're working 50 hours a week,
-
9:29 - 9:31maybe a main job and a side hustle.
-
9:31 - 9:33Well, that leaves 62 hours
for other things. -
9:33 - 9:35You say you're working 60 hours.
-
9:35 - 9:38Well, that leaves 52 hours
for other things. -
9:38 - 9:40You say you're working more than 60 hours.
-
9:40 - 9:41Well, are you sure?
-
9:41 - 9:43(Laughter)
-
9:43 - 9:46There was once a study comparing
people's estimated work weeks -
9:46 - 9:47with time diaries.
-
9:47 - 9:50They found that people claiming
75-plus-hour work weeks -
9:50 - 9:52were off by about 25 hours.
-
9:52 - 9:54(Laughter)
-
9:54 - 9:56You can guess in which direction, right?
-
9:58 - 10:00Anyway, in 168 hours a week,
-
10:00 - 10:03I think we can find time
for what matters to you. -
10:03 - 10:05If you want to spend
more time with your kids, -
10:05 - 10:07you want to study more
for a test you're taking, -
10:07 - 10:11you want to exercise for three hours
and volunteer for two, -
10:11 - 10:12you can.
-
10:12 - 10:16And that's even if you're working
way more than full-time hours. -
10:16 - 10:18So we have plenty of time, which is great,
-
10:18 - 10:19because guess what?
-
10:19 - 10:22We don't even need that much
time to do amazing things. -
10:22 - 10:25But when most of us have
bits of time, what do we do? -
10:26 - 10:27Pull out the phone, right?
-
10:28 - 10:30Start deleting emails.
-
10:30 - 10:32Otherwise, we're puttering
around the house -
10:32 - 10:34or watching TV.
-
10:34 - 10:37But small moments can have great power.
-
10:38 - 10:40You can use your bits of time
-
10:40 - 10:42for bits of joy.
-
10:43 - 10:46Maybe it's choosing to read
something wonderful on the bus -
10:46 - 10:47on the way to work.
-
10:47 - 10:50I know when I had a job
that required two bus rides -
10:50 - 10:51and a subway ride every morning,
-
10:51 - 10:54I used to go to the library
on weekends to get stuff to read. -
10:54 - 10:59It made the whole experience
almost, almost, enjoyable. -
11:00 - 11:03Breaks at work can be used
for meditating or praying. -
11:03 - 11:07If family dinner is out
because of your crazy work schedule, -
11:07 - 11:09maybe family breakfast
could be a good substitute. -
11:10 - 11:13It's about looking at
the whole of one's time -
11:13 - 11:15and seeing where the good stuff can go.
-
11:17 - 11:18I truly believe this.
-
11:19 - 11:22There is time.
-
11:23 - 11:25Even if we are busy,
-
11:25 - 11:27we have time for what matters.
-
11:28 - 11:30And when we focus on what matters,
-
11:30 - 11:32we can build the lives we want
-
11:33 - 11:34in the time we've got.
-
11:35 - 11:36Thank you.
-
11:36 - 11:41(Applause)
- Title:
- How to gain control of your free time
- Speaker:
- Laura Vanderkam
- Description:
-
There are 168 hours in each week. How do we find time for what matters most? Time management expert Laura Vanderkam studies how busy people spend their lives, and she's discovered that many of us drastically overestimate our commitments each week, while underestimating the time we have to ourselves. She offers a few practical strategies to help find more time for what matters to us, so we can "build the lives we want in the time we've got."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:54
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How to gain control of your free time | ||
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Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How to gain control of your free time | ||
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Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How to gain control of your free time | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How to gain control of your free time | ||
Leslie Gauthier edited English subtitles for How to gain control of your free time | ||
Leslie Gauthier edited English subtitles for How to gain control of your free time |