I don’t believe I’ve gone on record saying a book changed my life – until now.
Until very recently, I worked two full-time jobs and one part-time job. My life, needless to say, was chaotic. So when I saw “168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think” by Laura Vanderkam, I saw not only the possibilities for you, my readers, but also for myself.
Vanderkam’s “168 Hours” really did change my life. It made me think about what’s important and how to go about making the time to achieve it. Today, I have one full-time job, running Come Recommended – although I still moonlight here at Examiner.com because I really enjoy it.
What implications does “168 Hours” have for you? I recently had a chance to interview Vanderkam to dig deeper on the original thoughts I had:
HH: So many students say they don't have time to participate in internships during the school year (and thus fall behind their classmates who do). What would you say to these students?
LV: We have time for anything that really matters to us. There are people who are going to school, working, raising families, and volunteering -- and they have the exact same 168 hours per week as everyone else.
Rather than say “I don’t have time,” try saying “it’s not a priority,” and see how you feel about that. If it’s true that an internship isn’t a priority for you right now, then that’s true. Maybe you have family responsibilities or other activities or (worst case scenario) television shows that are more important to you right now. Claiming you don’t have time takes power out of your hands. Better to say it’s not a priority, which means that you can change the situation later if you want to.
HH: What steps should students take to reexamine their weekly allotment of 168 hours?
LV: Try keeping a time log for at least a week. Write down what you’re doing as often as you remember (you can download a time management spreadsheet from my website).
After a week, you’ll start to see patterns. Maybe you focus well in the mornings and evenings, but not in the afternoons. If you know that, then you can use your afternoons for hanging out with friends or exercising, and then block off your evenings for studying. Maybe you’ll find that half the weekend is gone before you even figure out what you plan to do -- which means that you could schedule in a shift at a part-time job on Saturdays without losing much time for other things.
HH: It's often said, "Finding a job is a full-time job," but that's not really true. What is your advice for recent graduates who are still unemployed and stuck in this mindset?
LV: Part of the problem with being unemployed is there’s nothing filling your days, and so you can fall into the trap of surfing the Web aimlessly or otherwise whiling away the hours. While this can be fun sometimes, it doesn’t make you feel like you’re moving forward in life.
As you plan your weeks, aim to accomplish three to five meaningful things each day. That could be doing an informational interview, asking a trusted friend to critique your résumé, and sending your résumé to a contact at a company that interests you. That’s plenty. Once you finish these goals, you can relax and do pleasurable things like exercising, volunteering and spending time with friends.
The next day, do three more things. Not only is this pace manageable, over time it adds up. Three things per day is 21 per week -- much better than aiming to do 15 in one day, failing, and getting discouraged.
HH: What is your favorite tip from "168 Hours," and how can students and recent graduates be applying it?
LV: At the start of the school year, think about what you’d like to say you’ve done by the end of it. Write up this fictional "year-end performance review." You don’t have to show this to anyone, but look at it frequently, because it gives you a lot of clarity about how you should be spending your time.
“I wrote a novel” might be on there, which will help motivate you to carve out time to write. “I answered all my emails within 2 minutes” probably won’t be. So maybe you can spend a little less time on that.
For more career advice, visit my blog at HeatherHuhman.com.
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