‘Too busy’ all of the time? Here’s how to get things done and make space for fun

Below, Laura Vanderkam shares five key insights from her new book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance. Laura is the author of several time management books and the host of the Before Breakfast podcast. She is also the host of the Best of Both Worlds podcast, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune. What’s the big idea? What if you’re not actually “too busy,” but just missing the secret to making your time work for you? By tracking your hours, embracing small steps, and saying yes to what excites you, you can turn everyday life into something far more intentional and a lot more fun. Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Laura herself—in the Next Big Idea App, or buy the book. 1. Tracking your time makes you happier with your time. I’ve tracked my time on weekly spreadsheets for the last 11 years. Yes, I know that makes me sound like a lot of fun! But I find that knowing where my time goes keeps me accountable and helps me cement memories. I’m a big fan of time tracking, and whenever someone wants to spend their time better, I suggest they try tracking their time for a week. For Big Time, I decided to look more systematically at time tracking. I had 279 people track their time for a week. I asked them various questions designed to measure time satisfaction before and after the week. I found that people’s satisfaction rose significantly. Indeed, agreement with the statement “Generally I have enough time for the things I want to do” rose 25% in a week. Partly, this is because time tracking inspires better choices. People didn’t want to document a three-hour YouTube binge in their logs, so they chose more fulfilling leisure-time activities and thus felt better about their time. But the deeper reason is that seeing where the time really goes helps us rewrite our stories. Even if you work long hours, you don’t work around the clock. If you have a bad night, that doesn’t mean all seven nights