Thursday, March 1, 2012

Book Review: 168 Hours- You Have More Time Than You Think

Finished another book this week - 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. In my opinion, this one was only okay. I say that because I think the heart of her message is a good one, but the delivery of it wasn't the greatest.

Most everyone you talk to would say they don't have enough time to do all the things they want to do (or need to do), right? Well the author of 168 Hours argues that we do all have enough time, at least for the things that are important to us. And definitely some of us could stand to reevaluate what we define as "important." So she says the key is to allocate time for the things that are most important first and then add in some of the items of lesser importance. The end result being that you will feel happy and fulfilled because you accomplished the important things.

I do heartily agree with her that most people waste a lot of their time and that how we choose to spend our precious hours is a reflection of our values. However, I think some of her suggestions are just not realistic for households on a tight budget, like hiring a personal chef, personal shopper, or cleaning service. She also sights A LOT of statistics about how people spend their time today vs. 50 years ago. I'll admit some of them were interesting and surprising even, but it was just too many stats for my taste.

While I can't say that I LOVED the book, I'm still glad that I read it and I feel like I took some nuggets from it to apply to my life. The result? This week my daily 'to do' lists have been more reasonable, more focused on the things that are the best use of my time, and they've nearly all been accomplished. And I've still had time to do preschool activities with the girls, work on a puzzle with my hubby, and do some pleasure reading.

So I guess if you feel like you never have enough time for all the things you need to do, you would probably benefit from checking out this book. There's probably at least a few nuggets of help in there for you too.