This is shaping up to be a big media week for 168 Hours. The book is the subject of a nice, long interview in today’s Washington Times called “Author offers lesson in time management.” The ever-astute Amy Bushatz leads with perhaps the edgiest part of our interview — that is, my assertion that the widespread idea that there isn’t time to build a career and be a good parent is, ahem, nonsense. I was an intern at the Washington Times many years ago, so it’s nice to be returning as a subject.
Lenore Skenazy, author of Free Range Kids, also cited 168 Hours in her syndicated column, “Letting Dad Relax and Relaxing About Dads.” (Link goes to the Pasadena Star-News version of the piece; it went out to 50 papers). As she points out, parents don’t actually need to spend every waking minute with their children to do just fine as parents. Indeed, the kids may actually turn out better if they don’t!
168 Hours is also the subject of a “guest guru” post over at Get Buttoned Up, called “Why you should write your family Christmas letter…now.” Yes, I mean in June. Why? Because it will make the next 6 months of 2010 the best 6 months of your life, that’s why! It is fun to be considered an organizational guru. Anyone who has seen my desk will know why this is hilarious.
I also stopped by Borders this morning, and discovered that 168 Hours is featured in the July issue of Parenting’s “Mother’hood” section. (Print only, can’t find it online at the moment). It’s a great spread with a photo of the book, and some of my favorite tips (like carpooling with friends to work if you can, or having sex instead of watching TV).
Over at Slate/DoubleX, KJ Dell’Antonia published a thoughtful review of 168 Hours (she discovers that she spends more hours per week procuring coffee than biking, her alleged hobby. Hmmm…..)
Then there is another column from me over at The Huffington Post called “45,613 emails in my inbox – and I feel fine.” People are sometimes shocked that I don’t file emails, but I think there are good reasons not to!
There are a few more pieces that will hit in the next 24 hours or so. In the mean time, congrats to Sara, Christina, Calee, Jen and Jeannine, the winners of the 168 Hours Challenge drawing! It is fascinating to see how people spend their time, and I’m grateful that so many people kept time logs with me as part of this experiment.
Congrats on a great week! I NEVER file emails, since I figure that’s what a search engine is for. And I must say that never deleting emails has come in handy several times when I had to prove or reconstruct a series of events, or find out exactly when I traveled somewhere or attended a conference.
I missed the time-log challenge this past week. I’ll be on board the next time and it sure has got me thinking.
ok, never deleting non-spam emails!
I do try to keep my inbox to a manageable level, for the same reason I keep my desks clear: I need that tiny bit of control so my brain doesn’t give up and head on out. I’m not filing emails as often anymore, but am more likely to forward them to my Evernote account, because I can find them a lot faster that way. I’m just a filing sort of person, I suppose, and have worked it into a system over the years so that it doesn’t take a lot of time every day.
The 168 Hours Challenge a few weeks ago was fantastic, just what I needed, when I needed it. I’m not tracking time right now, but I’m certainly more aware of it. I’m catching myself in the middle of activities that are not the best use of my time, and I’m thinking ahead to what I WANT to spend my time on. I think I’ll track my hours again sometime this summer, and perhaps even again this fall when school starts up. It’ll be interesting to see the difference.