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Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance
A beloved productivity expert’s mind-opening and schedule-expanding guide to making the most of every hour.
Most of us have an adversarial relationship with time. We’re constantly trying to beat the clock—behavior rooted in a fear that time is scarce and must be obsessed over, hoarded, and ultraoptimized. But what if there is a different way to view time, one that could make our hours feel abundant? What if we believed that we had enough time to advance our careers, enjoy meaningful relationships, pursue hobbies, and more? In Big Time, time management expert Laura Vanderkam shows us how to make this our reality.
Drawing on original research about how hundreds of real people spend their time and her own experience of tracking her time for a decade, Vanderkam shows how even busy people can come to feel that time is abundant. Big Time offers simple, tested tactics with high impact, such as developing a “ringmaster” mindset; breaking big goals into daily, bite-sized pieces; and making little bets within a schedule to increase the odds of a breakthrough. Through actionable advice for managing a complex life, Vanderkam demonstrates how we can feel liberated by the time we have, instead of restrained by it.
By turns surprising, thought-provoking, and encouraging, Big Time shows readers that the daily experience of time can be quite spacious—and that, managed well, each day’s hours can be a source of happiness and satisfaction.
Most of us have an adversarial relationship with time. We’re constantly trying to beat the clock—behavior rooted in a fear that time is scarce and must be obsessed over, hoarded, and ultraoptimized. But what if there is a different way to view time, one that could make our hours feel abundant? What if we believed that we had enough time to advance our careers, enjoy meaningful relationships, pursue hobbies, and more? In Big Time, time management expert Laura Vanderkam shows us how to make this our reality.
Drawing on original research about how hundreds of real people spend their time and her own experience of tracking her time for a decade, Vanderkam shows how even busy people can come to feel that time is abundant. Big Time offers simple, tested tactics with high impact, such as developing a “ringmaster” mindset; breaking big goals into daily, bite-sized pieces; and making little bets within a schedule to increase the odds of a breakthrough. Through actionable advice for managing a complex life, Vanderkam demonstrates how we can feel liberated by the time we have, instead of restrained by it.
By turns surprising, thought-provoking, and encouraging, Big Time shows readers that the daily experience of time can be quite spacious—and that, managed well, each day’s hours can be a source of happiness and satisfaction.
219 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 5, 2026
About the author
Laura Vanderkam
24 books1,223 followersLaura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including:
The New Corner Office
Off the Clock
I Know How She Does It
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
168 Hours
Laura is also the author of a time management fable, Juliet’s School of Possibilities and another novel, The Cortlandt Boys, which is available as an ebook.
Her 2016 TED talk, "How to Gain Control of Your Free Time," has been viewed more than 5 million times.
She regularly appears in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune.
She is the host of two weekly podcasts, Before Breakfast and The New Corner Office and she is the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the weekly podcast Best of Both Worlds.
She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.
The New Corner Office
Off the Clock
I Know How She Does It
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
168 Hours
Laura is also the author of a time management fable, Juliet’s School of Possibilities and another novel, The Cortlandt Boys, which is available as an ebook.
Her 2016 TED talk, "How to Gain Control of Your Free Time," has been viewed more than 5 million times.
She regularly appears in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune.
She is the host of two weekly podcasts, Before Breakfast and The New Corner Office and she is the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the weekly podcast Best of Both Worlds.
She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
3.0 Stars
I have been a long time fan of Laura Vanderkam's productivity books along with her Best of Both Worlds blog. I have bought most of her books on audio and reread them multiple times of year. With that background, I was very excited to learn that she had a new book coming out.
Unfortunately, I feel like my experience suffered because I am so familiar with the author's previous works. This book felt like a summary or revisit of her previous themes and recommendations. I found several of the sections repeated ideas from her last several books.
I understand that it's difficult to always have something new to say on this niche topic so I don't want to be overly critical. I still enjoy reading these discussions and will likely still buy the audiobook at some point because it often feels like an extended podcast which can still be comforting to revisit as I consider the work life balance of my own family.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
I have been a long time fan of Laura Vanderkam's productivity books along with her Best of Both Worlds blog. I have bought most of her books on audio and reread them multiple times of year. With that background, I was very excited to learn that she had a new book coming out.
Unfortunately, I feel like my experience suffered because I am so familiar with the author's previous works. This book felt like a summary or revisit of her previous themes and recommendations. I found several of the sections repeated ideas from her last several books.
I understand that it's difficult to always have something new to say on this niche topic so I don't want to be overly critical. I still enjoy reading these discussions and will likely still buy the audiobook at some point because it often feels like an extended podcast which can still be comforting to revisit as I consider the work life balance of my own family.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
May 30, 2026
Title: The Mindset Shift I Desperately Needed
This book came to me at just the right time in my life. Balancing a full-time job and launching a startup financial education business, I constantly find myself questioning how to best spend my waking hours. I often felt like I never had enough time to fully devote to my business.
Laura Vanderkam’s approach completely shifted my perspective. Her emphasis on tracking time really resonated with me—it’s just like tracking the food you eat, the steps you take, or the money you spend. You can't manage what you don't measure.
The biggest takeaway for me was the mindset shift from time scarcity to time abundance. When you change your mindset, all time starts to feel like a bonus, and those perceived limits on what you can achieve begin to vanish. Vanderkam provides highly practical advice on auditing your calendar and prioritizing tasks across three essential categories: Career, Relationships, and Self.
We all get the same 168 hours a week. This book reminded me that time is a resource to be used intentionally, and that by tracking it, we can easily make space for the things we love—whether that's building a business, exercising, or spending time with your loved one. Highly recommend the book to anyone feeling overwhelmed!
This book came to me at just the right time in my life. Balancing a full-time job and launching a startup financial education business, I constantly find myself questioning how to best spend my waking hours. I often felt like I never had enough time to fully devote to my business.
Laura Vanderkam’s approach completely shifted my perspective. Her emphasis on tracking time really resonated with me—it’s just like tracking the food you eat, the steps you take, or the money you spend. You can't manage what you don't measure.
The biggest takeaway for me was the mindset shift from time scarcity to time abundance. When you change your mindset, all time starts to feel like a bonus, and those perceived limits on what you can achieve begin to vanish. Vanderkam provides highly practical advice on auditing your calendar and prioritizing tasks across three essential categories: Career, Relationships, and Self.
We all get the same 168 hours a week. This book reminded me that time is a resource to be used intentionally, and that by tracking it, we can easily make space for the things we love—whether that's building a business, exercising, or spending time with your loved one. Highly recommend the book to anyone feeling overwhelmed!
August 22, 2026
I asked my library to buy this book because I am a big fan of Laura Vanderkam AND the library. They obliged, and I have now read through this book twice. I love that she encourages us to take a zoom out view of time and how it is spent. She notes that most people overestimate what they can do in the short term and underestimate what they can do in the long term. She also has a great chapter at the end about patience and strategies for working through hard times when success or happiness are not in the immediate future. She has lots of examples of ordinary people achieving personal goals just by not giving up and making the most of their given time. She doesn’t shame or hound, she basically presents evidence that the methods she’s advocating work and then you get to decide what and how to implement. Along the lines of James Clear and Cal Newport, Laura Vanderkam is one of those productivity gurus who reliably give good advice.
May 19, 2026
I had the opportunity to read an advance copy of Laura's latest book, Big Time, which explores the premises of what happens when you truly believe that time is abundant and that there is enough time for you to create a life you enjoy, especially when you are mindful and intentional with the many hours that you can direct. She states in the introduction that the book is about how to fall in love with your schedule and how to arrange your days where you know you have something to look forward to. Laura promised at the onset that the book would be practical.
I was simultaneously intrigued, wishful and skeptical at her premises, and by the end, I was pleasantly surprised, hopeful and inspired with the tactics, statistics and stories of those who had created joy, tackled large accomplishments, and claimed back their time through looking at time as big. Rather than looking at the 24 hours in a day or 168 hours in a week, look at time as more expansive - as 8,760 hours in a year.
Some of my highlights from the first 20 pages: "We have an incredible amount of agency over the daily experience of our time." "The long run may always be uncertain, but we can shape our lives." "When all time feels like it's a bit of a bonus, we can have a different mindset, and we ask what we'd like to do with it." "We can benefit from viewing time less as a foe and more as a friendly companion, present in enough quantities to be appreciated and savored."
"How we spend our time is how we spend our lives. I want everyone to fall in love with how they're spending their days... making smart choices with our time can enable that." What memories do you want to make?
Laura shares that "knowing where the time goes can help you rewrite your story from scarcity to abundance - and that, in turn, can make the next 8,760 hours the best of your life." Pay attention to the story you tell yourself about time. "In the absence of data, we build stories based on the moments that register.... negative moments stand out more than positive ones." Laura recommends to try tracking your time for a week and see what it looks like. "I now believe tracking your time makes you happier about your time... knowing where the time goes lets us tell ourselves a different story about our lives... there is more of it than you have probably imagined."
I found Laura's time satisfaction scales to be fascinating, and I plan to slowly implement various challenges and tactics that she referenced - along with leveraging her statements and scales to rate my own sentiments when exploring these tactics. Participants in her challenges noted that tracking made them more mindful of making better choices in the moment, that their sense of time shifted from it being scarce to it being more abundant than they realized. "When you rewrite your story from one of scarcity to one of abundance, you start to realize that what you thought were limits on possibility may not be there.... Flip that around and time simply opens up."
Laura devotes time to explore how to adopt the mindset of becoming the ringmaster of your own life and embracing the bigness of time, which requires a good plan, flexibility, and the delight of the ringmaster in creating the magic. She delves into how to limit the amount of mental energy / load that daily life requires by identifying repeatable solutions and processes or house rules. Laura also highlights the importance of having margin in schedules, which requires more open space, so that your schedule can be resilient when life is life-ng.
Laura encourages us to consider "what makes you feel in love with your life?" and to ensure you always have something you're genuinely looking forward to." She suggests "think of each weekend like a vacation." Research shows when doing that people are happier, less stressed and more satisfied.
Laura delves into Dream Big, Plan Small, sharing her year-long projects and others' long-term efforts. She shares how to assess and break down a project into doable steps / reasonable small chunks of time, and to ensure that it is something you truly want and enjoy doing. For example, reading War and Peace can be done in less than a year by reading one chapter averaging four pages a day. These longer-term efforts lead to "feeling like you have accomplished something meaningful (which) can make time feel more abundant."
While many of us may feel minimal control over our time spent on work, Laura identified three strategies at work that can enhance us feeling a sense of competence (finding meaning in what we do), a sense of belonging (relatedness), and autonomy at work. The participants in the challenge of implementing these strategies reported feeling happier and more productive at work - as well as having more energy for activities after work. I loved that she highlighted the research on taking breaks reduces fatigue and boosts energy, especially taking microbreaks throughout the day. And ensuring those are intentional breaks that are focused on maximizing rejuvenation / restoration reaped the most benefit - especially when those breaks were anticipated.
Laura points out that our weekday evenings could be 16 hours of time a week, depending on your work schedule and bedtime, so putting more intention behind that time can improve your satisfaction. Embracing your golden hours is about reframing how you choose to view the time after work and before bed, setting intentions for an enjoyable 30 to 60 minute activity a few times a week outside of work, housework, or family care, and then savoring and appreciating that activity. Laura encourages us to decide our "effortful fun" ahead of time, so we can better manage our energy. Participants reported an improvement in getting enough sleep to feel well rested - because leisure time and sleep were no longer at odds. If you're already planning in weekday fun, notice the time that you're already spending and savor the things as you're doing them.
Laura believes that the stories of time stress come from taking a limited view of time and encourages us to zoom out when we are feeling overwhelmed. When we see how vast time is, "we start to feel a happy sense of possibility." Also, "when we realize that time is big and abundance, then we can afford to be generous with it." Laura calls this active patience - "You can have faith in the outcome and take steady steps toward your goal, but still hold the timeline lightly, understanding life is often about probabilities..... there is much happiness to be gained from realizing that for many types of success, time is the secret ingredient. You do what you can do, and then you let time work its magic." Laura even suggests turning active patience into a game and giving yourself Patience Points for the list of steps you are taking toward the future outcome.
Laura packs a lot of useful tactics, examples and inspiration into this 205-page book and left us with the reminder that Time will be our friend.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who has felt like there is too much on their plate, there is never enough time, and that life seems to be flying by in a haze. I'm looking forward to incorporating Laura's tactics into my life to have a more abundant and intentional view of the next 8,760 hours and beyond.
I was simultaneously intrigued, wishful and skeptical at her premises, and by the end, I was pleasantly surprised, hopeful and inspired with the tactics, statistics and stories of those who had created joy, tackled large accomplishments, and claimed back their time through looking at time as big. Rather than looking at the 24 hours in a day or 168 hours in a week, look at time as more expansive - as 8,760 hours in a year.
Some of my highlights from the first 20 pages: "We have an incredible amount of agency over the daily experience of our time." "The long run may always be uncertain, but we can shape our lives." "When all time feels like it's a bit of a bonus, we can have a different mindset, and we ask what we'd like to do with it." "We can benefit from viewing time less as a foe and more as a friendly companion, present in enough quantities to be appreciated and savored."
"How we spend our time is how we spend our lives. I want everyone to fall in love with how they're spending their days... making smart choices with our time can enable that." What memories do you want to make?
Laura shares that "knowing where the time goes can help you rewrite your story from scarcity to abundance - and that, in turn, can make the next 8,760 hours the best of your life." Pay attention to the story you tell yourself about time. "In the absence of data, we build stories based on the moments that register.... negative moments stand out more than positive ones." Laura recommends to try tracking your time for a week and see what it looks like. "I now believe tracking your time makes you happier about your time... knowing where the time goes lets us tell ourselves a different story about our lives... there is more of it than you have probably imagined."
I found Laura's time satisfaction scales to be fascinating, and I plan to slowly implement various challenges and tactics that she referenced - along with leveraging her statements and scales to rate my own sentiments when exploring these tactics. Participants in her challenges noted that tracking made them more mindful of making better choices in the moment, that their sense of time shifted from it being scarce to it being more abundant than they realized. "When you rewrite your story from one of scarcity to one of abundance, you start to realize that what you thought were limits on possibility may not be there.... Flip that around and time simply opens up."
Laura devotes time to explore how to adopt the mindset of becoming the ringmaster of your own life and embracing the bigness of time, which requires a good plan, flexibility, and the delight of the ringmaster in creating the magic. She delves into how to limit the amount of mental energy / load that daily life requires by identifying repeatable solutions and processes or house rules. Laura also highlights the importance of having margin in schedules, which requires more open space, so that your schedule can be resilient when life is life-ng.
Laura encourages us to consider "what makes you feel in love with your life?" and to ensure you always have something you're genuinely looking forward to." She suggests "think of each weekend like a vacation." Research shows when doing that people are happier, less stressed and more satisfied.
Laura delves into Dream Big, Plan Small, sharing her year-long projects and others' long-term efforts. She shares how to assess and break down a project into doable steps / reasonable small chunks of time, and to ensure that it is something you truly want and enjoy doing. For example, reading War and Peace can be done in less than a year by reading one chapter averaging four pages a day. These longer-term efforts lead to "feeling like you have accomplished something meaningful (which) can make time feel more abundant."
While many of us may feel minimal control over our time spent on work, Laura identified three strategies at work that can enhance us feeling a sense of competence (finding meaning in what we do), a sense of belonging (relatedness), and autonomy at work. The participants in the challenge of implementing these strategies reported feeling happier and more productive at work - as well as having more energy for activities after work. I loved that she highlighted the research on taking breaks reduces fatigue and boosts energy, especially taking microbreaks throughout the day. And ensuring those are intentional breaks that are focused on maximizing rejuvenation / restoration reaped the most benefit - especially when those breaks were anticipated.
Laura points out that our weekday evenings could be 16 hours of time a week, depending on your work schedule and bedtime, so putting more intention behind that time can improve your satisfaction. Embracing your golden hours is about reframing how you choose to view the time after work and before bed, setting intentions for an enjoyable 30 to 60 minute activity a few times a week outside of work, housework, or family care, and then savoring and appreciating that activity. Laura encourages us to decide our "effortful fun" ahead of time, so we can better manage our energy. Participants reported an improvement in getting enough sleep to feel well rested - because leisure time and sleep were no longer at odds. If you're already planning in weekday fun, notice the time that you're already spending and savor the things as you're doing them.
Laura believes that the stories of time stress come from taking a limited view of time and encourages us to zoom out when we are feeling overwhelmed. When we see how vast time is, "we start to feel a happy sense of possibility." Also, "when we realize that time is big and abundance, then we can afford to be generous with it." Laura calls this active patience - "You can have faith in the outcome and take steady steps toward your goal, but still hold the timeline lightly, understanding life is often about probabilities..... there is much happiness to be gained from realizing that for many types of success, time is the secret ingredient. You do what you can do, and then you let time work its magic." Laura even suggests turning active patience into a game and giving yourself Patience Points for the list of steps you are taking toward the future outcome.
Laura packs a lot of useful tactics, examples and inspiration into this 205-page book and left us with the reminder that Time will be our friend.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who has felt like there is too much on their plate, there is never enough time, and that life seems to be flying by in a haze. I'm looking forward to incorporating Laura's tactics into my life to have a more abundant and intentional view of the next 8,760 hours and beyond.
September 3, 2026
I've read a few of Vanderkam's books and was not overly impressed, yet have always been intrigued by her time tracking system, using it on occasion and following her weekly email insights. When she announced the release of her new book, I was surprised to find our small-town library actually had it available to reserve.
When I read it, I was again surprised. This one is impressive. Tying together time tracking and time prioritization, she helps those (like me) who suffer from a time-scarcity mindset to adopt a time-abundance mindset. By tracking your time, you can get a better bird's-eye view over, say, a week, and this will help you to realize that you might have more time to do the things that are important to you than you realize. By prioritizing, you can make use of what might otherwise be "dead" time (an example of this could be listening to audiobooks, lectures, or even all of Bach's works during commutes).
Many helpful practical ideas throughout.
I also appreciate the push to do big things in small increments. If you want to visit every national park with your family, read every book by Jane Austen, or learn a new language, you can make it happen by scheduling manageable goals, whether that's a couple of trips a year, or 15 minutes a day of reading.
All in all, this book helped me to realize that I don't have to live by my motto, "So many ______, so little time," (insert whatever it is you are passionate about!) but can absolutely find time in abundance for what's important.
When I read it, I was again surprised. This one is impressive. Tying together time tracking and time prioritization, she helps those (like me) who suffer from a time-scarcity mindset to adopt a time-abundance mindset. By tracking your time, you can get a better bird's-eye view over, say, a week, and this will help you to realize that you might have more time to do the things that are important to you than you realize. By prioritizing, you can make use of what might otherwise be "dead" time (an example of this could be listening to audiobooks, lectures, or even all of Bach's works during commutes).
Many helpful practical ideas throughout.
I also appreciate the push to do big things in small increments. If you want to visit every national park with your family, read every book by Jane Austen, or learn a new language, you can make it happen by scheduling manageable goals, whether that's a couple of trips a year, or 15 minutes a day of reading.
All in all, this book helped me to realize that I don't have to live by my motto, "So many ______, so little time," (insert whatever it is you are passionate about!) but can absolutely find time in abundance for what's important.
February 28, 2026
I received an ARC from W.W. Norton. Review for Verily Magazine coming in May!
August 25, 2026
This book probably has some useful advice somewhere in there but mostly it is Stupid
September 6, 2026
I've long appreciated Laura Vanderkam's approach to time management, and Big Time is another thoughtful, encouraging, and practical addition to her body of work. Rather than focusing on how to squeeze more productivity out of every hour, Vanderkam challenges readers to reconsider their relationship with time altogether. What if we approached our days, weeks, and years from a place of abundance rather than scarcity?
One of the things I appreciate most about Vanderkam's work is her ability to make ambitious goals feel achievable. By encouraging readers to zoom out, consider the full scope of their available time, and break meaningful projects into small, manageable steps, she helps us recognize just how much is possible over longer periods. Her advice is grounded in research, real-life examples, and her own extensive experience tracking how she spends her time.
I also appreciate that this isn't just a book about getting more done. It's about creating a life that feels full and meaningful, with space for professional ambitions, relationships, personal interests, and unexpected opportunities. Vanderkam offers a refreshing reminder that effective time management isn't necessarily about doing everything, but about being intentional with the time we have.
Whether you're already familiar with Vanderkam's work or new to her ideas, Big Time offers a valuable perspective shift and plenty of actionable strategies. It's the kind of book I'd recommend revisiting when planning a new year, setting meaningful goals, or simply wanting to feel a little less rushed and a little more expansive about what's possible.
One of the things I appreciate most about Vanderkam's work is her ability to make ambitious goals feel achievable. By encouraging readers to zoom out, consider the full scope of their available time, and break meaningful projects into small, manageable steps, she helps us recognize just how much is possible over longer periods. Her advice is grounded in research, real-life examples, and her own extensive experience tracking how she spends her time.
I also appreciate that this isn't just a book about getting more done. It's about creating a life that feels full and meaningful, with space for professional ambitions, relationships, personal interests, and unexpected opportunities. Vanderkam offers a refreshing reminder that effective time management isn't necessarily about doing everything, but about being intentional with the time we have.
Whether you're already familiar with Vanderkam's work or new to her ideas, Big Time offers a valuable perspective shift and plenty of actionable strategies. It's the kind of book I'd recommend revisiting when planning a new year, setting meaningful goals, or simply wanting to feel a little less rushed and a little more expansive about what's possible.
August 19, 2026
How I love to be in the company of a Laura Vanderkam book! She speaks directly to the experience of being a busy, achieving woman and mom and reminds us of how much autonomy we actually have over our time. As an analytical and data-loving person, I really connect with the data she shares from her time tracking focus groups and her own experience. From this book in particular I liked the advice of finding a way to do something that you love for just 15 minutes, connecting with a colleague who you enjoy to make work more enjoyable, and to plan on Friday. But really I enjoyed the entire book. It put me in a time abundance mindset and was a great read ahead of the back-to-school season.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 10, 2026
I love Laura’s Before Breaksfast podcast and her newsletters, but this book was just okay to me. I appreciated that she made specific shout-outs to educators and her effort to find people with somewhat inflexible jobs. So much productivity advice assumes people are mostly in control of their time. As a teacher, most of my work hours are controlled by others—even bathroom breaks! Her thoughts about 3 characteristics that make work feel fulfilling (meaning, belonging, and autonomy) are unique to this book, as far as I can tell, so I really liked those. The rest was underscoring her messages I’ve encountered before.
November 9, 2026
I've read almost all of Laura Vanderkam's books, so most of this material was pretty familiar to me. Even so, I love being reminded again of how much time I truly have and how important it is to plan for the things that bring me joy and fulfillment.
If you've read a lot of productivity books like I have, you might not come away from this read with a lot of new tips and tricks. But it's an inspiring and uplifting reminder that each day counts and that we can accomplish more of what we want to in life than we think is possible.
If you've read a lot of productivity books like I have, you might not come away from this read with a lot of new tips and tricks. But it's an inspiring and uplifting reminder that each day counts and that we can accomplish more of what we want to in life than we think is possible.
May 23, 2026
Another great book by Laura Vanderkam! She has made me look at time with a different perspective. We do time-lots of time-if we are thoughtful and focused on how we use it, rather than let time pass (because it will). I’ve read several of her other books, and this book was an interesting take about making time feel abundant and more fulfilling. I am looking forward to implementing some of the recommendations, especially around the ‘golden hours’.
June 25, 2026
It was nice to revisit Laura Vanderkam’s work. I’ve read several of her other books and this was a nice reminder as to what can be done with all my time! I may track a week or two again as I did years ago and see what pops up. There is always time, it’s just your priorities!
May 28, 2026
Time management | Inspiring | Practical
Summer Guide 2026
Summer Guide 2026
June 10, 2026
As promised, simple. But helpful and not tedious.
I was taking action to use my time better before I finished this book.
I was taking action to use my time better before I finished this book.
September 8, 2026
I really enjoy Laura Vanderkam and this one did not disappoint. Lots of great ideas and notes taken!
June 16, 2026
This was different from her previous time management books and other time management books I've read. It's not just about "how to fit everything in" but how to have a bigger life in the midst of all the things that you might need to fit in. Plan for big projects, how to make life feel bigger in the midst of a lot. Appreciated this one a lot.
October 26, 2026
Basically the same message as her previous book but one I really needed to hear at this time in my life. The difference with this one is that it really emphasizes the power of time to accomplish things over time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2026
If you find "subtract the number of hours you sleep from the time you wake up to find your bedtime" to be insightful advice, you will really enjoy Big Time, a book about how to use your time efficiently. Those readers who have figured out time usage tricks before reading the book will struggle to get a lot out of it. The basic premise of the book is uncontroversial: even very busy people have blocks of available time in the course of a day and, over the course of weeks, months and years, a lot can be accomplished if these blocks are used productively. The best example Vanderkam gives here is War and Peace, an immense book with 361 chapters, meaning you can finish it in a year reading just one short chapter per day. Vanderkam suggests keeping a time diary in which you track how you use all of your time for a week or longer to identify blocks of free time or time-consuming activities. This seemed to me both insane and also interesting enough that I may try it. Big Time isn't a terrible book, and it isn't long, but most of what's in here is obvious or basic advice considering that the typical reader likely already pays some attention to how he/she spends their time.
July 3, 2026
I had to start laughing helplessly when I reached the “map out your day by half-hour” section. It’s always interesting to me how many of these time-management books are written by folks who don’t have a usual 9-to-5 job (with commute), and often no kids either. I’m sure it is (infinitely) easier to schedule your time with that setup, but most of us do not live in that world!
It’s not all bad advice - I do agree with the general approach of “cut out what’s not important to you, then figure out what is important to you and look for ways to squeeze it in somehow”; it’s just that there are hard limits…
It’s not all bad advice - I do agree with the general approach of “cut out what’s not important to you, then figure out what is important to you and look for ways to squeeze it in somehow”; it’s just that there are hard limits…
May 25, 2026
In Big Time: How to Build a Life That Feels Like a Life, time management expert Laura Vanderkam shifts her focus from "efficiency hacks" to the macro-strategy of life design. She argues that we often lose our sense of time because we live in the “small time”—the frantic daily grind of emails, errands, and reactive tasks—and fail to invest in the “Big Time”—the milestones, deep work, and long-term relationships that define a meaningful life. Vanderkam posits that “busy-ness” is often a symptom of misaligned priorities. Her primary framework is the “Time-Horizon Shift”: if you look at your life in weekly, annual, and decadal blocks rather than daily to-do lists, you gain the perspective necessary to say “no” to the trivial and “yes” to the transformative.
Top Stories & Examples
The “Summer of Impact” Project: Vanderkam highlights a software engineer who, feeling stuck in his career, dedicated one hour every Sunday for an entire summer to a non-work passion project. By looking at his time in a three-month block, he transformed his portfolio and successfully pivoted his career, proving that “Big Time” moves are built through small, consistent investments.
The “Parental Milestone” Audit: A common example throughout the book involves working parents who feel they are “missing everything.” Vanderkam shares the story of a father who mapped out the remaining “summers at home” for his children. By visualizing those finite blocks of time, he was able to prioritize a two-week unplugged family vacation that he had previously deemed “logistically impossible.”
The “Ten-Year Professional Vision”: She details an executive who mapped her career not by fiscal quarters, but by “career seasons.” This allowed her to accept a lower-paying, lower-stress role during a period of high family demand, knowing that her “Big Time” plan still placed her on a trajectory toward a board position in her 50s.
The “Sunday Night Reset”: A recurring practical example is the “Sunday 15,” a 15-minute weekly planning session. Vanderkam demonstrates how this brief, constrained time investment eliminates the “reactive chaos” of Monday mornings, effectively buying back hours of “Big Time” mental space.
Key Studies & Research
The “Time Perception” Study: Vanderkam cites research showing that people who participate in “novel experiences” (like traveling to a new city or learning a new skill) perceive their time as passing slower and more meaningfully than those who stick to rigid, repetitive routines. Novelty acts as an anchor for memory.
The “Opportunity Cost” Benchmark: She points to productivity studies showing that the average knowledge worker spends nearly 60% of their day on “work about work” (email, meetings, admin). Vanderkam uses this to advocate for the “Hard 3”—choosing only three high-impact tasks per day to ensure the most important work gets finished before the “small time” takes over.
The “Decision Fatigue” Research: She leans on studies of cognitive depletion to argue that our willpower is a finite resource. By automating small decisions (like meal planning or recurring weekly meetings), we preserve our peak hours for “Big Time” strategic thinking.
The “Big Time” Framework. Vanderkam concludes with a three-step method:
The Decade View: Look ten years ahead. What one “Big Time” achievement do you want to define this decade?
The Yearly Block: Break that down into annual goals. What is the one thing you must do this year to stay on track?
The Weekly Anchor: What is the one weekly recurring appointment you will never miss, which keeps you connected to your purpose?
Big Time argues that time can feel abundant when you stop treating every day as a crisis and start managing your schedule with more honesty, structure, and intention. Vanderkam’s big idea is that most people have more discretionary time than they think, and the key is using it well.
The book’s central claim is that “time abundance” is a mindset plus a set of practical habits. Vanderkam draws on her own decade of time tracking and research on how hundreds of real people spend their time to show that even busy people can reclaim meaningful hours for work, relationships, hobbies, and rest.
The ringmaster metaphor. Vanderkam frames life as a three-ring circus of career, relationships, and self, with you as the ringmaster who decides where attention goes.
The 168-hour week. She argues that looking at a week, not just a day, reveals more room for the things that matter.
The Tolstoy example. A review notes that she spent about 10 minutes a day reading Tolstoy and finished on schedule, illustrating how small daily commitments can produce large outcomes.
The golden hours idea. She highlights the weekday stretch after work and before bed as a prime time to protect for chosen pleasures rather than defaulting to screens.
TOAD, or Time Outside After Dinner. Her family’s habit of going outside after dinner is an example of building simple rituals that make leisure feel fuller.
Vanderkam repeatedly favors small, concrete experiments over sweeping life redesign. For example, she suggests spending one more hour a week on your favorite work, 15 more minutes a week with a coworker you enjoy, or taking two intentional breaks per day to improve work satisfaction.
She also emphasizes “effortful fun” before “effortless fun,” meaning that a little reading, music, drawing, or walking before grabbing a phone can make free time more satisfying. Another recurring tactic is making fewer decisions by relying on presets, so energy goes toward meaningful choices instead of constant re-deciding.
The book leans on Vanderkam’s original research tracking how people actually spend their time, along with her own long-running time logs. One of the strongest recurring empirical claims is that many people who feel time-starved still have discretionary time, but they do not always recognize it because they look only at today instead of the whole week. She also cites experiments showing that small changes in how people spend breaks, time with coworkers, or preferred tasks can significantly improve how they feel about work.
Practical takeaway
The book’s practical message is that you do not need a perfect schedule to feel less rushed; you need a more realistic one. Vanderkam’s approach is less about squeezing and more about shaping time so the good stuff actually happens.
Top Quotes
“We don’t ‘find’ time for the things that matter; we create time for them by deciding that the alternatives don't matter.”
“If you want to know what your priorities are, look at your calendar, not your intentions.”
“Small time is reactive; Big Time is intentional. You cannot live a big life on autopilot.”
“We spend our days sweeping the floor when we should be building the house.”
“Time is a finite resource, but ‘meaning’ is an infinite project. Stop trying to do it all, and start doing the right things.”
“A life of ‘shoulds’ is the fastest way to lose track of time.”
“Don’t measure your life by the length of your to-do list, but by the weight of your accomplishments.”
“The most important work you do this year will likely be the work you didn’t even put on your daily list.”
“Time abundance” is the book’s governing phrase and organizing idea.
“Your life is a circus. Be the ringmaster.”
“Think in weeks, not days.”
“Almost everyone has some discretionary time.”
“We have much more discretionary time than we often realize.”
“The daily experience of time can be quite spacious.”
Top Stories & Examples
The “Summer of Impact” Project: Vanderkam highlights a software engineer who, feeling stuck in his career, dedicated one hour every Sunday for an entire summer to a non-work passion project. By looking at his time in a three-month block, he transformed his portfolio and successfully pivoted his career, proving that “Big Time” moves are built through small, consistent investments.
The “Parental Milestone” Audit: A common example throughout the book involves working parents who feel they are “missing everything.” Vanderkam shares the story of a father who mapped out the remaining “summers at home” for his children. By visualizing those finite blocks of time, he was able to prioritize a two-week unplugged family vacation that he had previously deemed “logistically impossible.”
The “Ten-Year Professional Vision”: She details an executive who mapped her career not by fiscal quarters, but by “career seasons.” This allowed her to accept a lower-paying, lower-stress role during a period of high family demand, knowing that her “Big Time” plan still placed her on a trajectory toward a board position in her 50s.
The “Sunday Night Reset”: A recurring practical example is the “Sunday 15,” a 15-minute weekly planning session. Vanderkam demonstrates how this brief, constrained time investment eliminates the “reactive chaos” of Monday mornings, effectively buying back hours of “Big Time” mental space.
Key Studies & Research
The “Time Perception” Study: Vanderkam cites research showing that people who participate in “novel experiences” (like traveling to a new city or learning a new skill) perceive their time as passing slower and more meaningfully than those who stick to rigid, repetitive routines. Novelty acts as an anchor for memory.
The “Opportunity Cost” Benchmark: She points to productivity studies showing that the average knowledge worker spends nearly 60% of their day on “work about work” (email, meetings, admin). Vanderkam uses this to advocate for the “Hard 3”—choosing only three high-impact tasks per day to ensure the most important work gets finished before the “small time” takes over.
The “Decision Fatigue” Research: She leans on studies of cognitive depletion to argue that our willpower is a finite resource. By automating small decisions (like meal planning or recurring weekly meetings), we preserve our peak hours for “Big Time” strategic thinking.
The “Big Time” Framework. Vanderkam concludes with a three-step method:
The Decade View: Look ten years ahead. What one “Big Time” achievement do you want to define this decade?
The Yearly Block: Break that down into annual goals. What is the one thing you must do this year to stay on track?
The Weekly Anchor: What is the one weekly recurring appointment you will never miss, which keeps you connected to your purpose?
Big Time argues that time can feel abundant when you stop treating every day as a crisis and start managing your schedule with more honesty, structure, and intention. Vanderkam’s big idea is that most people have more discretionary time than they think, and the key is using it well.
The book’s central claim is that “time abundance” is a mindset plus a set of practical habits. Vanderkam draws on her own decade of time tracking and research on how hundreds of real people spend their time to show that even busy people can reclaim meaningful hours for work, relationships, hobbies, and rest.
The ringmaster metaphor. Vanderkam frames life as a three-ring circus of career, relationships, and self, with you as the ringmaster who decides where attention goes.
The 168-hour week. She argues that looking at a week, not just a day, reveals more room for the things that matter.
The Tolstoy example. A review notes that she spent about 10 minutes a day reading Tolstoy and finished on schedule, illustrating how small daily commitments can produce large outcomes.
The golden hours idea. She highlights the weekday stretch after work and before bed as a prime time to protect for chosen pleasures rather than defaulting to screens.
TOAD, or Time Outside After Dinner. Her family’s habit of going outside after dinner is an example of building simple rituals that make leisure feel fuller.
Vanderkam repeatedly favors small, concrete experiments over sweeping life redesign. For example, she suggests spending one more hour a week on your favorite work, 15 more minutes a week with a coworker you enjoy, or taking two intentional breaks per day to improve work satisfaction.
She also emphasizes “effortful fun” before “effortless fun,” meaning that a little reading, music, drawing, or walking before grabbing a phone can make free time more satisfying. Another recurring tactic is making fewer decisions by relying on presets, so energy goes toward meaningful choices instead of constant re-deciding.
The book leans on Vanderkam’s original research tracking how people actually spend their time, along with her own long-running time logs. One of the strongest recurring empirical claims is that many people who feel time-starved still have discretionary time, but they do not always recognize it because they look only at today instead of the whole week. She also cites experiments showing that small changes in how people spend breaks, time with coworkers, or preferred tasks can significantly improve how they feel about work.
Practical takeaway
The book’s practical message is that you do not need a perfect schedule to feel less rushed; you need a more realistic one. Vanderkam’s approach is less about squeezing and more about shaping time so the good stuff actually happens.
Top Quotes
“We don’t ‘find’ time for the things that matter; we create time for them by deciding that the alternatives don't matter.”
“If you want to know what your priorities are, look at your calendar, not your intentions.”
“Small time is reactive; Big Time is intentional. You cannot live a big life on autopilot.”
“We spend our days sweeping the floor when we should be building the house.”
“Time is a finite resource, but ‘meaning’ is an infinite project. Stop trying to do it all, and start doing the right things.”
“A life of ‘shoulds’ is the fastest way to lose track of time.”
“Don’t measure your life by the length of your to-do list, but by the weight of your accomplishments.”
“The most important work you do this year will likely be the work you didn’t even put on your daily list.”
“Time abundance” is the book’s governing phrase and organizing idea.
“Your life is a circus. Be the ringmaster.”
“Think in weeks, not days.”
“Almost everyone has some discretionary time.”
“We have much more discretionary time than we often realize.”
“The daily experience of time can be quite spacious.”
June 2, 2026
"When we realize time is big and abundant, then we can afford to be generous with it."
I always enjoy Laura Vanderkam's books, and Big Time was no exception. A lot of productivity books focus on all the ways to cram in every single goal you want to accomplish (balanced heavily towards work). But this book is kind of the opposite. Her take is that we have lots of time, more than we realize, and that in the act of recognizing that fact, we can use it better.
What's great about her approach is that she doesn't tell you how to over-schedule your time, or teach you how to squeeze more out of the few minutes you have. Instead, she suggests just allocating 15 or 30 minutes each week or each night to do something that you really want to do. We're busy! She gets it. But in contrast to Gretchen Rubin's maxim of "the days are long, but the years are short," Vanderkam says actually, there are 8,760 hours in a year. You can bum around during a lot of that time (if you want) and still have a ton left to learn to play the violin.
As in all of her books, Vanderkam points to the different parts of our days that usually feel rushed or wasted. I particularly liked her chapter on our "golden hours" between the end of the workday and bedtime. I also loved hearing about all the things that people were able to do with this long-term mindset. Read War and Peace? It only takes a year. Visit all the national parks? You can do it in five. Big Time made me want to pick up a big, meaty project and work on it patiently over many years... because we all have the time.
Thank you to Next Big Idea Club for the advance copy. Opinions are my own.
I always enjoy Laura Vanderkam's books, and Big Time was no exception. A lot of productivity books focus on all the ways to cram in every single goal you want to accomplish (balanced heavily towards work). But this book is kind of the opposite. Her take is that we have lots of time, more than we realize, and that in the act of recognizing that fact, we can use it better.
What's great about her approach is that she doesn't tell you how to over-schedule your time, or teach you how to squeeze more out of the few minutes you have. Instead, she suggests just allocating 15 or 30 minutes each week or each night to do something that you really want to do. We're busy! She gets it. But in contrast to Gretchen Rubin's maxim of "the days are long, but the years are short," Vanderkam says actually, there are 8,760 hours in a year. You can bum around during a lot of that time (if you want) and still have a ton left to learn to play the violin.
As in all of her books, Vanderkam points to the different parts of our days that usually feel rushed or wasted. I particularly liked her chapter on our "golden hours" between the end of the workday and bedtime. I also loved hearing about all the things that people were able to do with this long-term mindset. Read War and Peace? It only takes a year. Visit all the national parks? You can do it in five. Big Time made me want to pick up a big, meaty project and work on it patiently over many years... because we all have the time.
Thank you to Next Big Idea Club for the advance copy. Opinions are my own.
June 23, 2026
Great book w/a lot of amazing tips and hits as well as encouragements!
My notes:
—big time—
Time is a gift
Time is a resource like a golden mine to use (try to track your time for a week and see on what you actually spend time: choose a week, choose where you would like to track your time, check-ins x2-3 times per day, establish categories and level of detail - if you forget, don’t to panic -move one. Plus, ask what you like or don’t like to add extra categories if needed)
Time tracking provides accountability
Plan ahead every week on Thursdays or Fridays (even sometimes during your work hours if not too much work - knowing ahead what is for Monday and how everything so to be done reduces stress about a new week and allows enjoy your weekends) plus, see if others schedules might effect yours, so you can prioritize activities for yourself (life is a circus w/main three rings:
Career - work, education or major volunteering projects
Relationships - every type applicable
Self - physical, mental, and spiritual health)
Weekly priority list has to fit on one notebook page and no longer than that
Things change all the time and it doesn’t need to be an obstacle against planning (spend extra 5-10 mins at the end of each day to plan for the next w/all possible changes that happened)
Set rules like house-rules everyone is aware and follows (for instance, pasta on Mondays, fish and rice on Tuesdays, etc. with seasonal rotations. The same with laundry and duties for each person for each step of completing laundry) - stick to the rules!
Plan for emergencies and ask questions after it happens - what to do next, so to move on?
Manage for delight: schedule as a performance. The secret to have something to looking forward to (at least one thing per day). Think about each week as a vocation!
Dream big and plan small: we are used to tell ourselves that we don’t have time because it spent for something we are not looking forward to or considered as a waist. Don’t tackle too much at once!
Side note: War and Piece consists of 361 chapter (each about 4-5pages)
If something didn’t work as you intended, you can try something new - choose wisely
Refine your steps and define your calendar: try to avoid planning for a perfect day - life happens
A good calendar is to keep you from floundering
Test drive your calendars for 3-4 days before fully committing
Persist and reward yourself and keep steps of accomplishing goals small and with a space for any backups - resist temptation to do more (don’t attempt more on easy days - make this promise the finish still would be in your calendar)
Rewards can be as obvious as they need to be. Spread your small rewards between steps to motivate you going to the completion!
Big things don’t take than 10-15 mins per day!
Work:
What can be done, what activities involved to make your daily work is something to look forward to and not wishing hours to pass faster?
3 main strategies:
1. Meaning - spend one more hour per week on the work you like the most
2. Belonging - spend extra 50 mins per week deepening friendships
3. Autonomy - take 3 breaks per day for things and activities you are really looking forward to
What is the most satisfying part of your job, identify and spend extra 1 hour per week on that
Spend 15mins more to deepening friendships (especially at work) (and it would end up to 50 extra mins per week - one person at work is enough)
Enjoying your golden hour - can be as little as 30 mins read before going to bed
Setting evenings:
1. Understanding the landscape - log evening hours at least for a few days to get a common sense (awareness is a vital first step because of know what’s going on we can make decisions)
2. Set up small intentions - what would you do to have enjoyable 30 to 60 mins in the evening of each day? Once chosen plan ahead on time (for example, what movie or board game would be plaid and what time)!
3. Notice and savor - record your feelings and what you experienced during those activities that you chose to enjoy in the evenings each day!
To help to enjoy your evening even more:
1. Set a bed time - it gives you an option to plan your evening plans
2. Try outside time - like time outside after dinner (nothing crazy but fun activity)
3. Have a little adventure - one night a week do something more memorable to make it different than others
4. Do one evening for you (w/commitment to other ppl of possible)
5. Do effortful fun - reading a book or calling a friend, or paint, etc.
Press on pleasure
Be open to serendipity
Practice thoughtful accessibility (say yes to things as well as no thoughtfully)
You not waiting time if you chose that to see in a good way, especially when you leave enough time for your basics
Practice and magic to say yes to things:
1. Clear the clutter - remove things that drag you away from new things (making you overwhelmed, don’t keep stuff in your head - line things up ahead of time, do urgent not urgent stuff in benches; don’t be cheap in things that can help you as well as don’t care too much on things that not that important, so to reorganize mental space for yourself)
2. Plan for thoughtful for accessibility (it means having boundaries but stripping yourself off new possibilities)
3. Make little beds (don’t expect too much from things and plans - so small investments and can lead to a bigger life)
A flexible approach to life
App: time locker
What you wanna achieve in the next year (starting today) as professionally and personally (remember to look at life more broadly)?
Patience and generosity w/time is crucial - active patience
Time does bad things more tolerable, if you do your part and leave the rest to the time
Tactics:
1. How to track your time - time block (as simple as excel sheets or apps, or even simple paper and pencil). Start any day of the week and include at least one weekend! Having cues on how to remember your time logs to document (3-4 time per day)
Prompts:
What do you like most about your schedule?
How much you spend on what - categories!
What do you want to spend more time on/less?
Plan ahead for the next week!
1. How to run a weekly planning sessions? - regular planning session (choose a day and time to plan ahead; before also consider looking at your week “landscape” to see what’s ahead; PRIORITY LIST for each week: 1-work, 2-relationships, 3-self. It shall be short to be able to do it 100%)
My notes:
—big time—
Time is a gift
Time is a resource like a golden mine to use (try to track your time for a week and see on what you actually spend time: choose a week, choose where you would like to track your time, check-ins x2-3 times per day, establish categories and level of detail - if you forget, don’t to panic -move one. Plus, ask what you like or don’t like to add extra categories if needed)
Time tracking provides accountability
Plan ahead every week on Thursdays or Fridays (even sometimes during your work hours if not too much work - knowing ahead what is for Monday and how everything so to be done reduces stress about a new week and allows enjoy your weekends) plus, see if others schedules might effect yours, so you can prioritize activities for yourself (life is a circus w/main three rings:
Career - work, education or major volunteering projects
Relationships - every type applicable
Self - physical, mental, and spiritual health)
Weekly priority list has to fit on one notebook page and no longer than that
Things change all the time and it doesn’t need to be an obstacle against planning (spend extra 5-10 mins at the end of each day to plan for the next w/all possible changes that happened)
Set rules like house-rules everyone is aware and follows (for instance, pasta on Mondays, fish and rice on Tuesdays, etc. with seasonal rotations. The same with laundry and duties for each person for each step of completing laundry) - stick to the rules!
Plan for emergencies and ask questions after it happens - what to do next, so to move on?
Manage for delight: schedule as a performance. The secret to have something to looking forward to (at least one thing per day). Think about each week as a vocation!
Dream big and plan small: we are used to tell ourselves that we don’t have time because it spent for something we are not looking forward to or considered as a waist. Don’t tackle too much at once!
Side note: War and Piece consists of 361 chapter (each about 4-5pages)
If something didn’t work as you intended, you can try something new - choose wisely
Refine your steps and define your calendar: try to avoid planning for a perfect day - life happens
A good calendar is to keep you from floundering
Test drive your calendars for 3-4 days before fully committing
Persist and reward yourself and keep steps of accomplishing goals small and with a space for any backups - resist temptation to do more (don’t attempt more on easy days - make this promise the finish still would be in your calendar)
Rewards can be as obvious as they need to be. Spread your small rewards between steps to motivate you going to the completion!
Big things don’t take than 10-15 mins per day!
Work:
What can be done, what activities involved to make your daily work is something to look forward to and not wishing hours to pass faster?
3 main strategies:
1. Meaning - spend one more hour per week on the work you like the most
2. Belonging - spend extra 50 mins per week deepening friendships
3. Autonomy - take 3 breaks per day for things and activities you are really looking forward to
What is the most satisfying part of your job, identify and spend extra 1 hour per week on that
Spend 15mins more to deepening friendships (especially at work) (and it would end up to 50 extra mins per week - one person at work is enough)
Enjoying your golden hour - can be as little as 30 mins read before going to bed
Setting evenings:
1. Understanding the landscape - log evening hours at least for a few days to get a common sense (awareness is a vital first step because of know what’s going on we can make decisions)
2. Set up small intentions - what would you do to have enjoyable 30 to 60 mins in the evening of each day? Once chosen plan ahead on time (for example, what movie or board game would be plaid and what time)!
3. Notice and savor - record your feelings and what you experienced during those activities that you chose to enjoy in the evenings each day!
To help to enjoy your evening even more:
1. Set a bed time - it gives you an option to plan your evening plans
2. Try outside time - like time outside after dinner (nothing crazy but fun activity)
3. Have a little adventure - one night a week do something more memorable to make it different than others
4. Do one evening for you (w/commitment to other ppl of possible)
5. Do effortful fun - reading a book or calling a friend, or paint, etc.
Press on pleasure
Be open to serendipity
Practice thoughtful accessibility (say yes to things as well as no thoughtfully)
You not waiting time if you chose that to see in a good way, especially when you leave enough time for your basics
Practice and magic to say yes to things:
1. Clear the clutter - remove things that drag you away from new things (making you overwhelmed, don’t keep stuff in your head - line things up ahead of time, do urgent not urgent stuff in benches; don’t be cheap in things that can help you as well as don’t care too much on things that not that important, so to reorganize mental space for yourself)
2. Plan for thoughtful for accessibility (it means having boundaries but stripping yourself off new possibilities)
3. Make little beds (don’t expect too much from things and plans - so small investments and can lead to a bigger life)
A flexible approach to life
App: time locker
What you wanna achieve in the next year (starting today) as professionally and personally (remember to look at life more broadly)?
Patience and generosity w/time is crucial - active patience
Time does bad things more tolerable, if you do your part and leave the rest to the time
Tactics:
1. How to track your time - time block (as simple as excel sheets or apps, or even simple paper and pencil). Start any day of the week and include at least one weekend! Having cues on how to remember your time logs to document (3-4 time per day)
Prompts:
What do you like most about your schedule?
How much you spend on what - categories!
What do you want to spend more time on/less?
Plan ahead for the next week!
1. How to run a weekly planning sessions? - regular planning session (choose a day and time to plan ahead; before also consider looking at your week “landscape” to see what’s ahead; PRIORITY LIST for each week: 1-work, 2-relationships, 3-self. It shall be short to be able to do it 100%)
May 5, 2026
DNF: The author is either willfully obtuse and/or incredibly privileged.
Regardless, an individual seeking information on maximizing increments of time should neither be met with skeptical reproach over the validity of their situation nor be told that the number of working hours has decreased when myriad stats, in fact, indicate the contrary; more importantly, certainly not within the first few pages.
Thus, my recommendation to readers already pressed for hours in a day is as obvious and pedant as the prose, don't waste your time. Savor those precious moments for a better publication instead.
Regardless, an individual seeking information on maximizing increments of time should neither be met with skeptical reproach over the validity of their situation nor be told that the number of working hours has decreased when myriad stats, in fact, indicate the contrary; more importantly, certainly not within the first few pages.
Thus, my recommendation to readers already pressed for hours in a day is as obvious and pedant as the prose, don't waste your time. Savor those precious moments for a better publication instead.
May 9, 2026
I love that this self-help book encourages us to see that we actually have a lot of time and to do lots of things with it. This is a contrast to all the voices telling us to pare back and that we can only do so much. Very inspiring.
November 1, 2026
Commonplace quotes:
In the absence of data, we build stories based on the moments that register. Human nature being what it is,
negative moments stand out more than the positive.
Time starts to feel scarce. You are too busy. Life is unsustainable. You know this to be true. But do you? Why
not try tracking your time for a week and see what it looks like?
“It’s so incredibly helpful to actually see where you’re spending your time. The only person looking/judging
this is you—so how do you want to spend your time? There’s way more time than you think.” This last
statement is my philosophy for life. Even busy people do have some space. Some simply acknowledge this.
There is time to relax, to savor, to breathe. People often wish for more margin in their lives. For the vast
majority of people, figuring out where the time really goes will reveal that there is already some margin
available if you choose to see it.
And so people do, and in their managing, show that there is no need to simplify just to simplify. Complexity
isn’t the enemy. Chaos is. Complexity and chaos are not the same things at all. Indeed, certain kinds of joy are
only possible if you choose the bigger life.
Managing three rings—your career, your relationships, and yourself—comes down to a few principles. First,
everything is well planned (including a great many set processes that don’t have to be planned over and over
again). Next, there is a flexibility to everything—a good net, if you will—for when things go wrong. And
finally, all this looks like magic, because no one enjoys a circus that looks like drudgery. A good ringmaster
manages for delight.
We all delight in different things, but one way to manage your circus for delight is to make sure you always
have something you are genuinely looking forward to.
On a practical level, one helpful tactic for making sure you have something to look forward to is to think of
each weekend like a vacation.
People overestimate what they can do in the short run. They underestimate what they can do in the long run.
Many daunting projects can be completed over a finite amount of time simply by breaking the journey into
smaller steps. You dream big and plan small. You never tackle too much at once. Nothing feels onerous. But
as the days keep passing, even little things add up.
One gut-check question to ask about any long-term project is this: Would I do this on vacation?
Twenty minutes a day, if it’s truly daily, is about 120 hours in a year—the equivalent of taking three weeks off
work to devote to your goal, without actually having to do that.
For many people, weekday evenings are such an afterthought that they don’t have any sense of where the
time goes, or even how much time there is. Even people who have clear morning routines, or who have a good
grasp on their work hours, can struggle to describe their evenings. To be sure, that’s sometimes because
evenings themselves can vary in length and tend to be less regimented than the mornings.
I suspect participants felt more rested because when people started thinking through their evenings and
setting intentions, they were able to plan in me-time before the wee hours. Leisure time and sleep were no
longer at odds.
Most of us understand that a day has a beginning. We’re a little less sold on the idea that each day has an end.
That said, I believe there are a few ways to organize our time so that happy serendipity is more likely to pay a
visit. First, we can clear the temporal and mental clutter. Second, we can plan for thoughtful accessibility. And
finally, we can develop the mindset of making little bets and observing the outcomes to see what might be
worth pursuing more.
If you feel guilty about this decluttering, it might help to quantify the opportunity cost of your schedule.
Assign any task you have on your calendar a value on a 1- to 10-point scale. Don’t value open spaces as 0,
against which a 6 looks reasonable. As a smart and ambitious person, you might be able to pursue something
in that open space that would wind up being a 9. Is that status meeting with David about a project that is
going perfectly fine a 6?
In general, you want to spend less time on things you need to talk yourself into.
Instead, look for ideas or possibilities that you start talking yourself out of. You are immediately excited . . .
but then remind yourself how busy you are. Or that you don’t think you’re qualified, or that you don’t think
those people will find you interesting, or that it’s hard to travel to events when you’ve got young kids, or you’
ll have to call in a favor from a coworker . . . The initial excitement is telling. Everything else is logistics. You’ll
probably figure it out.
Whenever time feels crunched, or a trade-off feels challenging, or you are feeling overwhelmed, try zooming
out. Look at time more broadly. I’m not saying you’ll read 300 books a year while becoming fluent in Chinese.
But there is a very good chance that life will start to feel full of possibility.
“This experiment has been really fun and helpful for me and seeing myself make slow but consistent progress
on my projects is really satisfying,” she noted. Slow progress is still progress, and each day and each week is a
chance to try again.
In the absence of data, we build stories based on the moments that register. Human nature being what it is,
negative moments stand out more than the positive.
Time starts to feel scarce. You are too busy. Life is unsustainable. You know this to be true. But do you? Why
not try tracking your time for a week and see what it looks like?
“It’s so incredibly helpful to actually see where you’re spending your time. The only person looking/judging
this is you—so how do you want to spend your time? There’s way more time than you think.” This last
statement is my philosophy for life. Even busy people do have some space. Some simply acknowledge this.
There is time to relax, to savor, to breathe. People often wish for more margin in their lives. For the vast
majority of people, figuring out where the time really goes will reveal that there is already some margin
available if you choose to see it.
And so people do, and in their managing, show that there is no need to simplify just to simplify. Complexity
isn’t the enemy. Chaos is. Complexity and chaos are not the same things at all. Indeed, certain kinds of joy are
only possible if you choose the bigger life.
Managing three rings—your career, your relationships, and yourself—comes down to a few principles. First,
everything is well planned (including a great many set processes that don’t have to be planned over and over
again). Next, there is a flexibility to everything—a good net, if you will—for when things go wrong. And
finally, all this looks like magic, because no one enjoys a circus that looks like drudgery. A good ringmaster
manages for delight.
We all delight in different things, but one way to manage your circus for delight is to make sure you always
have something you are genuinely looking forward to.
On a practical level, one helpful tactic for making sure you have something to look forward to is to think of
each weekend like a vacation.
People overestimate what they can do in the short run. They underestimate what they can do in the long run.
Many daunting projects can be completed over a finite amount of time simply by breaking the journey into
smaller steps. You dream big and plan small. You never tackle too much at once. Nothing feels onerous. But
as the days keep passing, even little things add up.
One gut-check question to ask about any long-term project is this: Would I do this on vacation?
Twenty minutes a day, if it’s truly daily, is about 120 hours in a year—the equivalent of taking three weeks off
work to devote to your goal, without actually having to do that.
For many people, weekday evenings are such an afterthought that they don’t have any sense of where the
time goes, or even how much time there is. Even people who have clear morning routines, or who have a good
grasp on their work hours, can struggle to describe their evenings. To be sure, that’s sometimes because
evenings themselves can vary in length and tend to be less regimented than the mornings.
I suspect participants felt more rested because when people started thinking through their evenings and
setting intentions, they were able to plan in me-time before the wee hours. Leisure time and sleep were no
longer at odds.
Most of us understand that a day has a beginning. We’re a little less sold on the idea that each day has an end.
That said, I believe there are a few ways to organize our time so that happy serendipity is more likely to pay a
visit. First, we can clear the temporal and mental clutter. Second, we can plan for thoughtful accessibility. And
finally, we can develop the mindset of making little bets and observing the outcomes to see what might be
worth pursuing more.
If you feel guilty about this decluttering, it might help to quantify the opportunity cost of your schedule.
Assign any task you have on your calendar a value on a 1- to 10-point scale. Don’t value open spaces as 0,
against which a 6 looks reasonable. As a smart and ambitious person, you might be able to pursue something
in that open space that would wind up being a 9. Is that status meeting with David about a project that is
going perfectly fine a 6?
In general, you want to spend less time on things you need to talk yourself into.
Instead, look for ideas or possibilities that you start talking yourself out of. You are immediately excited . . .
but then remind yourself how busy you are. Or that you don’t think you’re qualified, or that you don’t think
those people will find you interesting, or that it’s hard to travel to events when you’ve got young kids, or you’
ll have to call in a favor from a coworker . . . The initial excitement is telling. Everything else is logistics. You’ll
probably figure it out.
Whenever time feels crunched, or a trade-off feels challenging, or you are feeling overwhelmed, try zooming
out. Look at time more broadly. I’m not saying you’ll read 300 books a year while becoming fluent in Chinese.
But there is a very good chance that life will start to feel full of possibility.
“This experiment has been really fun and helpful for me and seeing myself make slow but consistent progress
on my projects is really satisfying,” she noted. Slow progress is still progress, and each day and each week is a
chance to try again.
March 26, 2026
Anecdotes and practical suggestions
May 28, 2026
We've all felt it: the anxiety about the week ahead, the sense that time is slipping away, the nagging feeling that we're not spending our hours on what truly matters. Laura Vanderkam's “Big Time” offers a practical framework for using the hours you have with intention and without regret.
I'll be honest: the early chapters felt slow. The opening stories didn't immediately grab me the way I expected from a well-known time management authority. But midway through, the book shifts. As Vanderkam moves from diagnosis to framework to practical implementation, the value becomes clear.
The central insight is deceptively simple: if you want to own your time, you must first see it clearly. Everything flows from there. I scribbled this framework as the thesis, as I read through the book : Measure > Plan > Align > Execute
Vanderkam builds her approach in distinct phases:
1. Measure your time: The first step is tracking your time in 30-minute increments. This practice reveals the gap between how you think you spend your time and how you actually spend it.
2. Plan your week: Anxiety about the week ahead is often worse than the week itself. Vanderkam emphasizes planning at the weekly level, by intentionally designing your week.
3. Align time with values: One of the book's most insightful elements is its approach to tracking time as a function of three categories: your relationships, your career, and yourself. The key recognition is that this balance shifts with seasons of life.The framework helps you ask: “Given where I am right now, am I allocating time appropriately to what matters?”
4. Build in joy: This is where Vanderkam moves beyond typical productivity advice. She advocates for deliberately building small pleasures and surprises into your week instead of following a grim schedule.
Vanderkam's toolkit is concrete and implementable:
1. Create rules to simplify your life, because, rules create freedom by eliminating decisions.
Think like a project manager: choose your destination, break it into actionable chunks, resist the urge to do everything at once, and stick to the schedule. Incremental progress over heroics!
2. Protect three dimensions of wellbeing: Build time for autonomy (choice and agency), belonging (connection with others), and competence (mastery and growth) to maintain joy.
3. Subtract, don't just add: In a culture obsessed with productivity hacks and optimization, Vanderkam's advice to subtract is refreshing. She advocates for regularly asking: What am I doing that doesn't add value? What's left over from a previous season of life? What can I eliminate? This practice of subtraction often yields more time than any optimization hack.
While “ Big Time” is strong, a few gaps remain - The early narrative structure could tighten. The stories that ground the early chapters are meant to illustrate problems and possibilities, but they read slowly compared to the actionable material that follows.Additionally, the book would benefit from more explicit guidance on the emotional or psychological barriers to implementation.
“Big Time” is essential for anyone struggling with the feeling of never having enough time. It's particularly valuable for professionals and managers who want to protect space for what matters while still delivering results. Parents, educators, and anyone juggling multiple roles will find the framework for thinking about seasonal shifts helpful. I recommend.
I'll be honest: the early chapters felt slow. The opening stories didn't immediately grab me the way I expected from a well-known time management authority. But midway through, the book shifts. As Vanderkam moves from diagnosis to framework to practical implementation, the value becomes clear.
The central insight is deceptively simple: if you want to own your time, you must first see it clearly. Everything flows from there. I scribbled this framework as the thesis, as I read through the book : Measure > Plan > Align > Execute
Vanderkam builds her approach in distinct phases:
1. Measure your time: The first step is tracking your time in 30-minute increments. This practice reveals the gap between how you think you spend your time and how you actually spend it.
2. Plan your week: Anxiety about the week ahead is often worse than the week itself. Vanderkam emphasizes planning at the weekly level, by intentionally designing your week.
3. Align time with values: One of the book's most insightful elements is its approach to tracking time as a function of three categories: your relationships, your career, and yourself. The key recognition is that this balance shifts with seasons of life.The framework helps you ask: “Given where I am right now, am I allocating time appropriately to what matters?”
4. Build in joy: This is where Vanderkam moves beyond typical productivity advice. She advocates for deliberately building small pleasures and surprises into your week instead of following a grim schedule.
Vanderkam's toolkit is concrete and implementable:
1. Create rules to simplify your life, because, rules create freedom by eliminating decisions.
Think like a project manager: choose your destination, break it into actionable chunks, resist the urge to do everything at once, and stick to the schedule. Incremental progress over heroics!
2. Protect three dimensions of wellbeing: Build time for autonomy (choice and agency), belonging (connection with others), and competence (mastery and growth) to maintain joy.
3. Subtract, don't just add: In a culture obsessed with productivity hacks and optimization, Vanderkam's advice to subtract is refreshing. She advocates for regularly asking: What am I doing that doesn't add value? What's left over from a previous season of life? What can I eliminate? This practice of subtraction often yields more time than any optimization hack.
While “ Big Time” is strong, a few gaps remain - The early narrative structure could tighten. The stories that ground the early chapters are meant to illustrate problems and possibilities, but they read slowly compared to the actionable material that follows.Additionally, the book would benefit from more explicit guidance on the emotional or psychological barriers to implementation.
“Big Time” is essential for anyone struggling with the feeling of never having enough time. It's particularly valuable for professionals and managers who want to protect space for what matters while still delivering results. Parents, educators, and anyone juggling multiple roles will find the framework for thinking about seasonal shifts helpful. I recommend.
Read
July 26, 2026Thinking about time more broadly - “shifting everything left” ie getting things done long before needed like doing assignments when assigned, builds margin if for example you have young children
Couple having shared Google Keep note called “docket of items to discuss”
Think about weekly goals for career, relationships, self
Make house rules ex. menu for days of the week
Can get together with friends or do other things you enjoy early in the morning
Make sure you always have something you are genuinely looking forward to
Long road trip - kids can use tablets only when driving
DeCou family multi-year project visiting all the national parks. You can meet a big goal if you plan it in doable parts over the long haul. Connecting the dots of discretionary time can make big things possible. “Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time”
People often don’t stick with long-term projects because they don’t actually want to do them. They sound good in theory but don’t appeal when you’re actually doing them. Test-run them. Try a month etc.
Projects tend to be more compelling if they have a true destination, a finish line. By December 31 can be a good endpoint. Or a specific outcome. Like to be able to converse conversationally in French on a trip. Etc.
Cumulatively, the difference between nothing and just a little more than nothing turns out to be huge (p. 64).
You can use an existing calendar or create your own.
Identify the time of day when you will take your small step. Early is good. Identify a backup slot in case the first doesn’t work out.
It is human nature to be most excited at the beginning and at the end. It’s the steps in the middle that are hard. Just walk the mile you’re in.
Have interim celebrations and rewards.
Set a bedtime. The day needs an ending in addition to a beginning.
Have a little adventure in the evening.
Preparation and thinking through pain points can help you enjoy your time much more. Ex if you have to wait in the car for a kid at lessons, bring snacks, have a program for yourself.
Clear your schedule as much as possible so you can say yes to serendipitous opportunities. Batch tasks, write things down so you’re not ruminating and keeping everything in your head, embrace vertical ownership in the household, care less about things that don’t have to matter
“Make little bets.” You don’t have to enjoy everything you try but if you try lots of things you’ll find some winners.
Think in 8,760 hours and not 24. A year has many hours of discretionary time when you subtract work, sleep, and other obligations. Think about what you want to accomplish and how long it will take, and when you can plan it in and how to work backwards to make it possible.
“Time is good at its job.” Do what you can, and let time works its magic.
Couple having shared Google Keep note called “docket of items to discuss”
Think about weekly goals for career, relationships, self
Make house rules ex. menu for days of the week
Can get together with friends or do other things you enjoy early in the morning
Make sure you always have something you are genuinely looking forward to
Long road trip - kids can use tablets only when driving
DeCou family multi-year project visiting all the national parks. You can meet a big goal if you plan it in doable parts over the long haul. Connecting the dots of discretionary time can make big things possible. “Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time”
People often don’t stick with long-term projects because they don’t actually want to do them. They sound good in theory but don’t appeal when you’re actually doing them. Test-run them. Try a month etc.
Projects tend to be more compelling if they have a true destination, a finish line. By December 31 can be a good endpoint. Or a specific outcome. Like to be able to converse conversationally in French on a trip. Etc.
Cumulatively, the difference between nothing and just a little more than nothing turns out to be huge (p. 64).
You can use an existing calendar or create your own.
Identify the time of day when you will take your small step. Early is good. Identify a backup slot in case the first doesn’t work out.
It is human nature to be most excited at the beginning and at the end. It’s the steps in the middle that are hard. Just walk the mile you’re in.
Have interim celebrations and rewards.
Set a bedtime. The day needs an ending in addition to a beginning.
Have a little adventure in the evening.
Preparation and thinking through pain points can help you enjoy your time much more. Ex if you have to wait in the car for a kid at lessons, bring snacks, have a program for yourself.
Clear your schedule as much as possible so you can say yes to serendipitous opportunities. Batch tasks, write things down so you’re not ruminating and keeping everything in your head, embrace vertical ownership in the household, care less about things that don’t have to matter
“Make little bets.” You don’t have to enjoy everything you try but if you try lots of things you’ll find some winners.
Think in 8,760 hours and not 24. A year has many hours of discretionary time when you subtract work, sleep, and other obligations. Think about what you want to accomplish and how long it will take, and when you can plan it in and how to work backwards to make it possible.
“Time is good at its job.” Do what you can, and let time works its magic.
May 21, 2026
A Productivity Book That Made Me Feel Calmer, Not Busier
I had the opportunity to read this book through the First Look Club at the Next Big Idea.
The subject is one I think most people can relate to: how do we do more with the time we have available, while also feeling more accepting of the demands already on it? That framing alone made this book stand out to me from the many “optimize every second” productivity books out there.
The basic premise is deceptively simple. First, check your reality through a time audit. Then think about what changes you can make based on the insights that brings - what gets removed, what gets added, and what matters enough to intentionally make space for. Laura Vanderkam also encourages readers to think across multiple buckets of life at once: career, relationships, and self.
One of the ideas that really resonated with me was the challenge to think “Big Time” rather than getting trapped in the next day, week, or meeting. I’ve always felt pressure to identify one grand purpose in life - the single thing I’ll have achieved or left behind that will matter in the end. What I took from this book is that maybe it doesn’t have to be just one thing. Maybe a meaningful life can be built through multiple strands that evolve over time.
I also loved the idea of stretching growth over longer periods instead of only relying on intense bursts of reinvention. I already try to do one thing each year that scares me or develops me in some way, but the book made me think differently about how to sustain those changes over time rather than treating them as isolated experiences.
Before reading this, I honestly assumed the people who “fit everything in” must secretly sleep three hours a night and be utterly exhausting to be around. This book shifted that perspective. Instead of feeling cynical about those people, I found myself curious. What systems are they using? What choices are they making? Which techniques could genuinely help me build a life that feels fuller without feeling frantic?
I haven’t fully put the book’s recommendations into practice yet - I read it while on vacation - but that may actually be one of the strongest endorsements I can give it. Before I’d even finished reading, I had already sent myself notes for changes I want to make when I get back to work.
Most importantly, the suggestions feel doable. A combination of low-effort, high-impact activities, alongside a consistent reminder to zoom out, take a step back, and enjoy the life you are actively building.
I had the opportunity to read this book through the First Look Club at the Next Big Idea.
The subject is one I think most people can relate to: how do we do more with the time we have available, while also feeling more accepting of the demands already on it? That framing alone made this book stand out to me from the many “optimize every second” productivity books out there.
The basic premise is deceptively simple. First, check your reality through a time audit. Then think about what changes you can make based on the insights that brings - what gets removed, what gets added, and what matters enough to intentionally make space for. Laura Vanderkam also encourages readers to think across multiple buckets of life at once: career, relationships, and self.
One of the ideas that really resonated with me was the challenge to think “Big Time” rather than getting trapped in the next day, week, or meeting. I’ve always felt pressure to identify one grand purpose in life - the single thing I’ll have achieved or left behind that will matter in the end. What I took from this book is that maybe it doesn’t have to be just one thing. Maybe a meaningful life can be built through multiple strands that evolve over time.
I also loved the idea of stretching growth over longer periods instead of only relying on intense bursts of reinvention. I already try to do one thing each year that scares me or develops me in some way, but the book made me think differently about how to sustain those changes over time rather than treating them as isolated experiences.
Before reading this, I honestly assumed the people who “fit everything in” must secretly sleep three hours a night and be utterly exhausting to be around. This book shifted that perspective. Instead of feeling cynical about those people, I found myself curious. What systems are they using? What choices are they making? Which techniques could genuinely help me build a life that feels fuller without feeling frantic?
I haven’t fully put the book’s recommendations into practice yet - I read it while on vacation - but that may actually be one of the strongest endorsements I can give it. Before I’d even finished reading, I had already sent myself notes for changes I want to make when I get back to work.
Most importantly, the suggestions feel doable. A combination of low-effort, high-impact activities, alongside a consistent reminder to zoom out, take a step back, and enjoy the life you are actively building.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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