Writing 168 Hours, it was very important to me to use real people with their real names. Many self-help books are filled with morality tales of, say, “John” who wants to use his time better, follows the author’s instructions and bam! Life is perfect.
But, of course, life seldom works this way. I find it more interesting to see how people really deal with life’s challenges. And I also know that non-fiction has a power that fiction does not. If I opened 168 Hours with a composite character who has 6 kids and a 7-figure business, you’d probably think I was making it up.
So instead, in Chapter 1, I profile a real woman, Theresa Daytner, who is owner of Daytner Construction Group, and a mother of multiple school-aged children. She seems to find time to enjoy life, even with all her responsibilities — going for a hike on a Thursday morning just because it is a beautiful day. She’s the one who gave me that great language of not saying “I don’t have time to do X, Y, or Z.” Instead, we should say “I don’t do X, Y or Z because it’s not a priority.”
Good stuff. But anyway, the point of this post is that I’m happy to announce that other people are starting to find out about Daytner too. I learned yesterday that Fortune magazine and American Express chose Daytner as one of 10 small business owners who will be invited to attend Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. This summit features 400 women from government, business, philanthropy, the arts and so forth. I would love to be a fly on the wall listening to Hillary Clinton, Indra Nooyi, Maria Bartiromo, Michelle Rhee and a host of other leaders (maybe that can be something for my List of 100 Dreams — be invited to that Summit!). So I’m a bit envious of Daytner — but also very proud of her. She is a great example of how people can not only “have it all,” but create lots of jobs for other people at the same time.
In other 168 Hours news:
- Mashable features 168 Hours in a post called 37 Productivity Tips for Working from Anywhere. I recommend that people assign themselves a “course” each month during their commutes. Listen to a Shakespeare play, then listen to a commentary on it. Listen to part of the Ring Cycle, then listen to it again so you start to hear themes. Does this have anything to do with your work? No. But it will get your brain going!
- The Free Agent Time Management webinar, co-hosted with Men With Pens, is coming up on October 14. It is filling up fast, so if you’re interested, sign up! Read more about it here (includes registration links)
- See that fun little newsletter sign-up on this page? I’m starting a once-a-month newsletter with the highlights of this blog, my other projects, tips, etc. Please consider subscribing, especially if you don’t visit the blog often. Thanks!
