Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life6 Heinä

Time Management: Trading Time Scarcity for Abundance with Laura Vanderkam

Time management and time abundance are at the center of this conversation with Laura Vanderkam, bestselling author and time-use researcher.

Laura Vanderkam has spent over a decade studying how people actually spend their time — tracking her own hours for 11 years and collecting data from thousands of others along the way. Her new book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, makes the case that time isn't the scarce resource we assume it is, and that shifting how you see it changes how you live it.

In this conversation, we cover:

The lottery ticket reframe — why Laura argues we should treat the time we've been given as an unearned windfall to manage, not a resource we're constantly running out of.
The "not actually more overworked" argument — what a century of time-use data really shows, and why the story you tell yourself about having no time matters more than the data itself.
Complexity isn't the enemy, chaos is — Laura's circus metaphor for running a full, complicated life without it feeling like it's running you.
Dream big, plan small — how reading War and Peace one short chapter a day (the same time it takes to brush your teeth) is the model for tackling anything that feels too big to start.
Active patience — Laura opens up about a brutal year of chronic pain and the hardest lesson in the book: sometimes the answer isn't a better system, it's time itself doing its work.

This one's for anyone who's ever ended a Tuesday feeling like the whole evening just disappeared. Grab Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance wherever books are sold, and find more of Laura's work — including her podcast, Before Breakfast — at lauravanderkam.com.

Connect with Erik:

This Podcast is Powered By:

Grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist:

http://beyondthetodolist.com/blinkist

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(598)

Team Habits: How Small Actions Create Better Teams and Better Work with Charlie Gilkey

I’m excited to revisit this conversation with Charlie Gilkey on his book, Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. Charlie is the founder of Productive Flourishing, a company that...

3 Kesä 46min

Mentoring: What Most People Get Wrong and How to Do It Right with Claire Diaz-Ortiz

I'm excited to revisit this conversation with Claire Diaz-Ortiz discussing her book, One Minute Mentoring, co-authored with legendary leadership expert Ken Blanchard. Claire is a keynote speaker, auth...

19 Touko 36min

Social Media Detox: How to Take a Break from Digital Overload and Get Your Focus Back

What happens when you delete every app off your phone for 21 days? In this solo episode, Erik shares what he discovered during a Christmas break internet break — and what the research says about why s...

7 Touko 26min

Retreat Rhythms: Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual Practices for Renewal with John Drury

I’m excited to welcome back my good friend Dr. John Drury for part two of our conversation on the rule of life and how ancient practices can help us live and work with more intention. John is a New Te...

21 Huhti 48min

Rule of Life: How Ancient Practices Can Transform Your Productivity and Rest with John Drury

I'm excited to revisit this conversation I had with John Drury to the show to discuss how ancient spiritual practices can reshape the way we approach productivity, rhythm, and life itself. John is a p...

15 Huhti 43min

Productivity Without Burnout: Executing with Agency Instead of Illusion of Control

Welcome to the first episode of 2026! If you’re feeling that “new year, new me” pressure: goals, plans, fresh calendars, the whole thing—this one’s for you. Because when life inevitably punches your p...

8 Tammi 20min

Productivity A to Z 2025: Letters N Through Z with Mike Vardy

I’m excited to welcome Mike Vardy back to Beyond The To-Do List for one of our ongoing traditions: Productivity A-Z!This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation — and we split it across both shows. Part ...

30 Joulu 202558min