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Laura Vanderkam

Born: 1978

Social links:

Official Website YouTube Channel LinkedIn

Genres:

Productivity Personal Development Self Help

Laura Vanderkam is an American author and speaker specializing in time management and productivity. She is best known for books such as 168 Hours, Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, and Tranquility by Tuesday. Her work, featured in major publications, and her podcasts have influenced discussions on work-life balance and personal productivity.

Biography & Author's Journey

Laura Vanderkam, born in 1978, is an American author, journalist, and speaker renowned for her expertise in time management and productivity. Raised with a strong academic foundation, she graduated from Princeton University in 2001, where her early fascination with writing and the patterns of high achievers began to take shape. After college, she embarked on her writing career with a formative year-long internship at the op-ed page of USA Today, eventually transitioning into freelance journalism in New York. This period was instrumental, exposing her to the choices and schedules of accomplished professionals and sowing the seeds for her later focus on how people allocate time.

Quotes

Instead of saying “I don’t have time” try saying “it’s not a priority,” and see how that feels. Often, that’s a perfectly adequate explanation

-I Know How She Does It

You don’t build the life you want by saving time. You build the life you want, and then time saves itself. Recognizing that is what makes success possible

-I Know How She Does It

Time is elastic. It stretches to accommodate what we need or want to do with it

-I Know How She Does It

The discipline of joy requires holding in the mind simultaneously that this too shall pass and that this too is good. This alchemy of mind isn't easy, but the good life is not always the easy life. Happiness requires effort

-Off the Clock

Ultimately, self-control lets you relax because it removes stress and enables you to conserve willpower for the important challenges

-What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

This is what happens when you treat your 168 hours as a blank slate. This is what happens when you fill them up only with things that deserve to be there

-168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

Calling something 'work' doesn't make it a more noble use of time than anything else. Work that doesn't advance you toward the life you want is still wasted time

-Off the Clock

We overestimate the things we don't want to do and underestimate the things we do want to do

-15 reflections on 15 years of 168 Hours

We all have the same amount of time but spend it differently. How we think about time changes how we perceive it

-Ep. 56: Off the Clock with Laura Vanderkam

The key to time management is treating our priorities as the equivalent of that broken water heater

-TED Talk: How to Gain Control of Your Free Time

Popular Books

168 Hours

Laura Vanderkam

Time management strategies for a balanced life.

The New Corner Office

Laura Vanderkam

Master remote work with practical tips on productivity and work-life balance.

Off The Clock

Laura Vanderkam

Discover counterintuitive principles to feel less busy, increase productivity, and savor life's best moments through mindset shifts and practical strategies.

I Know How She Does It

Laura Vanderkam

Data-driven insights reveal how high-achieving women balance career, family, and personal life without sacrificing success or happiness.

Tranquility by Tuesday

Laura Vanderkam

Nine practical strategies to find calm amid chaos and make time for what truly matters in your busy life.