It’s been a minute since I’ve posted a blog. I wish I could say it’s because I’ve been jetting off to tropical locales or something equally dramatic, but it’s really been just life---which I guess can be equally dramatic!
I started a book club in January—Women Who Lead, Women Who Read. I’m so excited about it! We had our first meeting in February and discussed Tranquility By Tuesday by Laura Vanderkam.
I love time management books, blogs, hacks, theories---from the Pomodoro method https://francescocirillo.com/products/the-pomodoro-technique to the Miracle Morninghttps://miraclemorning.com to Fly Lady http://flylady.net—anything that keeps me focused on making the most of my time—I’m interested in learning about it. I’ve discovered, however, that time management is NOT a one size fits all proposition, and within whatever method one might choose, many of us make adjustments large and small to accommodate the rhythms of our very individual lives.
I’ve read or listened to many time experts, because I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient and effective with my time. But most of them feel like all or nothing approaches—up by 5 to meditate, exercise, read, plan, visualize, etc. If I close my eyes at 5 am, I’m done. If it's been a late night—helping a child with homework, finally doing the laundry, letting the dog out when she suddenly decides to defend us against a rogue possum, getting sucked into the rabbit hole of social media—5 am isn’t going to happen. Then I feel like a failure because all the “stuff” doesn’t get done in a timely fashion.
But if you like Pomodoro or the Miracle Morning or any of the other productivity and time management plans out there, you can certainly incorporate your favorite into the scaffolding of Tranquility By Tuesday.
Tranquility By Tuesday has been a game changer for me. I’ve followed Laura Vanderkam since her TED talk several years ago. I’ve read most of what she’s written about time management, and what stands out is her reasonable, achievable approach.
Plans are useless, but planning is everything. Eisenhower
Laura’s approach is sooooo much more applicable to my life. The nine rules she discusses in her book are in the attached graphic. I particularly like the grace given in her rule “3 times a week is a habit” as well as her rule for keeping your planning resilient by creating a back-up slot. It considers that for many of us, life does not typically adhere to a beautifully wrought plan. The homework, the demented dog/rogue possum, the undisciplined IG scrolling…or if you’re like me and thousands of other women, you woke up at 1:00 this morning with a to-do list, a to-fix list, a to-worry-about list, and an ongoing replay of that thing you should/shouldn’t have said/done/worn back in high school. Laura’s rules are guidelines for getting the most out of your time, acknowledging that life can be messy, ungovernable, crazy, and unexpected.
There is, in fact, quite a bit of grace given within this book, which makes the whole of it immanently more accessible and achievable—giving us all a little more tranquility in our lives.
The overwhelming consensus of the women in my book club is that this is a book we wish we’d had when we were just starting out. We’ve touched base with each other over the past month about which rules were going well right out the gate and which required a little more intentionality. All in all, two thumbs up, 5 stars, highly recommend!
Next week, we are meeting to discuss Lydia Fenet’s The Most Powerful Woman in The Room Is You. And I’ll be more prompt in writing the blog post about it.
Until then, happy reading!
Other resources:
Website: www.lauravanderkam.com where you can learn about her other books, her podcasts, and more
Podcast about the book:
Laura’s TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/laura_vanderkam_how_to_gain_control_of_your_free_time?language=en
