I am very grateful that 168 Hours continues to be in the news more than 3 months after its release. Portfolio ordered a third printing, several people have told me the book was sold out in their local stores (order online if that’s the case!) and I’ve learned that the paperback will come out next June. Here’s a round-up of the latest headlines.
CurrentMom’s Stacy Feuer posted an interview with me last week, called “The Myth of Frazzled Working Moms” (love that title!) She noted that “168 Hours… is much more than a typical time-management tome: it’s an inspirational call to action packed with acute observations on the social pressures that have led many women to buy into the ‘bleak notion of mutual exclusivity between work and family’ and practical tools and tips you can use to chart your time and plan your goals.” We still have some spots left in the webinar I’m co-hosting tomorrow with CurrentMom’s Katherine Reynolds Lewis, from 12:30-1:30PM eastern (Go Back-To-School Without Going Back-To-Crazy). You can register by following this link.
Beth Henary Watson wrote a lovely review of the book in Currency. She reprinted it on her blog (read it here). “From the opening chapter, Vanderkam has us thinking about time in a different way,” Henary Watson writes. “Add up the time spent on key life tasks like work, sleep, church, child care and errands, then see what remains. Odds are you’re not as over-scheduled as you think.” One of my favorite lines? “Rather than take just one of our 168 hours to think through what we’d like to achieve in our week, many of us subject our dreams to death by 1,000 distractions.”
I’m thrilled to learn that the Wandering Scientist, a scientist and mother of two little girls, is using 168 Hours as the basis for her life reorganization. As she takes on new responsibilities at work, and tries to figure out what she’d like to include in her 168 hours, she’ll be doing the exercises in the book, including keeping a time log. She is inviting blog readers to do the same. As she writes of 168 Hours, “It is a well written book, full of interesting observations about how busy we are (or aren’t) and ideas about how to make more time for the things that really matter to you. I encourage anyone who wonders how some people manage to have high power careers while working a 40-50 hour work week to check this book out. It might answer the question for you.”
But you don’t have to be a mom, or even have a high-power career yet to enjoy 168 Hours! Heather Huhman, the entry-level careers columnist over at The Examiner, chose 168 Hours as recommended reading for those just starting out. She did a short interview with me on prioritizing for college students, and gave this nice shout-out: “I don’t believe I’ve gone on record saying a book changed my life – until now.”
I’ve also been writing a lot about these topics. Some major media outlets have reprinted (with permission!) posts from this blog. Reuters reprinted my “Is Twitter Work?” post, and AOL News reprinted my post on the pay-gap and time-gap, under the new headline, “There’s More To The Pay Gap Story” That column was highlighted on the home page of AOL.com for a while, so that’s exciting. I also penned a column for The Huffington Post called “Are We Over-Scheduling Our Children?” Short answer? No.
There should be some more blog posts and the like later this week. I’ll be logging my time next week for the second 168 Hours Challenge, and hope you’ll join me for that!