Laura Vanderkam's Blog

I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a marvelous time! I went for a make-your-own Thanksgiving 5k run in the morning (just around the neighborhood), and then we went to my brother’s house in New Jersey for a mid-day Thanksgiving feast. My entire family was there (including my niece’s fiance) so that was nice. Some folks played frisbee and football in the backyard. My sister-in-law took photos of my immediate family (since all 7 of us were there!). I brought my usual cranberr...

A few weeks ago, Sarah and I hosted our third annual Best Laid Plans Live conference in south Florida (OK, she was the sole host for the first one, but I attended, and then co-hosted the second two!). We love having dedicated space to think about and plan the upcoming year.

In today’s episode of Best of Both Worlds, we share some of our thinking and planning exercises from the conference, and then talk about our take-aways. We offer suggestions for how someone can create their own version of BLP...

Welcome to Thanksgiving week. Apparently 3 of my 4 kids (at home) have Tuesday and Wednesday off this week, in addition to Thursday/Friday. Historically we haven’t really traveled at Thanksgiving because the kids used to have a half-day Wednesday, but I guess that’s changed now. Maybe in future years. This year we’re going to NJ relatives for Thanksgiving, and then we’ll likely do Dutch Wonderland and Longwood, and get our real tree. (The artificial “fancy tree” is already up! As is the staircas...

I went into NYC for meetings yesterday. The train station experience in PHL was a bit more stressful than it should it been — the garage where I have parked for every train trip for 14 years was mysteriously FULL, truly no spots, so I had to park in a surface lot about a 8 minute walk away, which I hadn’t built into my schedule! — but when I arrived in NYC I found the city was decorated for the holidays. I walked past the Macy’s windows, and through Bryant Park, where the annual Winter Village i...

Whatever we do daily winds up shaping our lives through sheer frequency. So any attention we pay to daily rituals will probably be paid back in terms of a better life overall.

Today’s episode of Best of Both Worlds features an interview with Andrea Leigh Rogers, creator of Xtend Barre. She is a dancer who has built her own exercise brand, and in her new book, Small Moves Big Life, she explores 7 daily practices, adding up to 30 minutes total, that have been instrumental for her energy and produc...

I’ve realized, in my annual rhythms, that November tends to be a planning time. There is the immediate need to plan the holidays — the various activities, gift lists, and more. Through hard experience I’ve also realized that it’s best to plan my two post-Christmas babies’ birthday parties in November as well (turns out every kid with a holiday birthday wants to book the popular places for the first/second weekend of January! If I wait until mid-December they’re often booked.) It is also time to ...

I spent a lot of yesterday driving to/from Connecticut, where I was giving a speech. I had debated taking the train, but I would have had to drive in traffic to the Philadelphia Amtrak station, and then it would have been at least a 15 minute Uber ride on the other end too (we weren’t right by a major station). So I just drove the whole way.

It was a reminder that traffic is no fun! I left the house at 6:10 a.m., and pulled into my venue at 10:15 a.m., so that’s 4:05 total time. I probably stopp...

In today’s episode of Best of Both Worlds, we discuss ways to rekindle the flame…with your job! Any long-term relationship can start to feel a little dull after a while, and that includes the relationship people have with their workplaces. But while fiery hot passion may not be the goal here, there are definitely strategies that can help people enjoy their jobs more.

From increased engagement with colleagues to seeking out professional development opportunities to taking strategic breaks, we dis...

I got back Sunday from a (mostly) excellent few days in Florida. Why mostly? Well, I was supposed to be back Saturday, and due to all the air travel nastiness I got stuck. But I am home now thanks to my trusty method for dealing with late-in-the-day flight cancelations (I get on Travelocity and find a discount airline that will fly where I am going first thing the next morning; normally I also book a hotel near the airport while I am there on Travelocity but in this case I crashed with my lovely...

(Laura’s note: A version of this essay originally ran at Vanderhacks, my Substack newsletter. To get a free or paid subscription, please go here.)

We all have little annoying things in our lives. For instance, a non-urgent warning light just came on in my car. Also, every time I pull out of the driveway, I look up and notice that I haven’t changed the time on the dashboard yet (I have an old car; this has to be done manually) but I’m, you know, driving, so I can’t do it right then. This morning ...