168 Hours

March 29, 2010
Vanderkam (Grindhopping
) offers a “new” system of time management: if readers want to “make” more time to spend with their children, get fit, or write that novel, they must slash nonessential time wasters and minimize tasks that are not “core competencies,” a business term for what a company does best and must prioritize. She offers solid and even excellent career advice, about both how to make the most of time at a current job and how to manage time to get ahead. And there is something curiously fascinating about her bizarrely brutal approach to time management (“There's little point... in spending much time on activities in which you can't excel”). But given that the author seems to be targeting a very rarefied echelon of upper-middle-class working moms (like herself), the book might have very limited appeal. More alienating, though, is her insistence on pummeling the life out of life. Vanderkam's vision may yield plenty of time to pursue worthy activities, but it's a life leached of color or spontaneity.

May 15, 2010
Having it all is hard work; it's a process of evaluating the present and setting future goals. New York City-based author Vanderkam ("Grindhopping") uses time surveys and relates countless stories of friends and clients who have achieved breakthroughs in creating time to enjoy life. Some of her suggestions include focusing, making the most of downtime, and committing enough time, energy, and resources to make activities meaningful. The best chapters offer parents ideas for building quality time with their children. Checklists and charts break up this rather hefty book and offer a new context for thinking about time. Worthwhile.

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