How to gain control of your free time | Laura Vanderkam | TED
There are 168 hours in each week. How do we find time for what matters most? Time management expert Laura Vanderkam studies how busy people spend their lives, and she's discovered that many of us drastically overestimate our commitments each week, while underestimating the time we have to ourselves. She offers a few practical strategies to help find more time for what matters to us, so we can "build the lives we want in the time we've got."
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"I don't have time = it is not a priority." "Time is Elastic" "Time is a choice" Totally agreed. Thank you so much for the talk.
Thank you, u save my 12 minutes)
Thank you 😍
@@kriptos2355 I watch Ted talks in order to improve my english listening. I guess it helps and also by the help of Ted talks I learn new things like time management
@@caligula2456 Same
Naz, I think she said time is not elastic
Boss: "Where are you?" Me after watching this: "Sorry, you are not in my priority anymore."
lol you are driving your boss to the edge
Very funny, LOL!!!!!!
Sorry. We are going to have to let you go.😅
"neither are you"
，Q了Q有＿＋；不JM～｜＿》；W￥（8BO＃@@nanadaisukich.
" Every minute I spend is my choice " how great is this sentence
Really powerful!
Sounds like a movie quote
its more of energy management than time management for me. i have time to do things but not necessarily the energy to do them.
That's so true!
exactly!
me too! sometimes I find myself with relatively free days to do the things I want and work towards personal goals, but I'm always so drained from staying up late doing homework and waking up at 6 am for school, that I just don't have the energy to do anything besides watch youtube or sleep with my cat 😭but I guess time management still plays a factor because if I managed my time better, I would be able to get my homework done earlier, then I could sleep earlier, then I would have more energy 😂
Nah... *You're not tired!! You're uninspired!!!*
Exactly. That's why I undervalue this video. That woman with water basement example is just wrong, she'll end up with stress and bad sleep that week, and if her work is creative then it's probably a productivity loss too (may be next week too). Yeah, she fixed her basement, but at what cost, lol. I wonder if she actually lost more hours than "earned" eventually. So it's better not to have water in your basement.
**Added to watch later**
This should be the top comments , literally!!
i had this in watch later for like a year
@@geenakaown8278 same
Me too hahaha... finally got around to watch this 6 months later. And I regret not watching it 6 months earlier 😂
I did too. Now thanks to having my holiday in South Korea canceled because of Coronavirus, I am working through my watch later videos.
she never said "schedule every hour full of work". she said "you have time for the things you prioritize." maybe you prioritize watching a movie every night to recharge. then do that and don't feel bad about it. that's your priority.
Then you might wanna go a watch video on knowing what your actual priorities cause watching movie is a messed up priority.
@@PNCM If watching a movie is a way to spend time with loved ones, I see no problem prioritizing it. I've made a habit of not judging other peoples' priorities.
Yes! Even alone. Watching movies help you enjoy yourself, too!
Thank you so much for highlighting that, i needed it.
@@PNCM Tarantino will disagree with you
5 points summary from my point of view 1. I don't have time = It's not your priority. 2. Time is highly elastic 3. The key to time management is treating our priorities as the equivalent of that broken water heater. 4. Strategies: - Write next year's review (by answering these questions): i) What 3-5 things would make it a great year for you professionally? ii) What 3-5 things would make it a great year for you personally? 5. Small movements have great power. Everyone has 24 hours a day, it's up to us how we are utilizing it happily. From my point of view, it is not always about professional life, just think about farmers, spiritual leaders, an army man, and those we are working for others selflessly. I think we should give priorities to the activities which purify our mind and senses.
thx
I love this woman's attitude! She's funny, captivating and interesting too! For me, step 1 of controlling my time would be to stop watching KZhead though...
For videos like this you can listen to it in the background while doing something else.
jliller great advice thanks!
flabberghast and she's beautiful
Ha, thats a good point!
I want to spend less then 1.5 hours a day on the internet. It's really hard...
We are so obsessed with time just like someone already said in the comments. But on the other hand we will always find time for the things that truly matter to us and that's what Laura Vanderkam says in her talk. I used to rush myself on the bike to school and I love cycling.. but I wanted to be there as fast as possible so that I'd have more time to study. Yet every time I would rush through, I'd be stopped at the red lights and the slower cyclers would catch up with me, making me feel frustrated with the time I was wasting waiting at the red lights. All I was left with was more sweat, frustration and muscle pain. So I decided this was not going to do it. Now I cycle every morning to school at a slow pace enjoying the nature: the rain, the sunshine, the wind, the smells of life, everything, listening to the city or the birds. I even have time to stop if I see a cat and try to give it some snacks. I arrive at school feeling relaxed and ready for the day. It's my favorite thing to do now. Making a priority list will make your life better. Especially the relationships and self categories. Taking time to just be present in the moment and live. Ignore the smartphone and technology as long as possible and talk to your loved ones instead. Or instead of procrastinating by scrolling through Facebook, watch a TED talk. You won't feel like you've wasted your time after that. Thanks for the inspiring talk. I'm getting back to work now. Time to review my priority list.
This was absolutely a magical read, it helps me digest this talk even more!
true
You nailed it! Hope you are achieving your goals and making a difference.
Wow you really like writing and i am so obssessed about it
It's so cool, bro
This lady was my neighbor for a year when I lived 3 doors down and I’m a little messy (but was specifically “going through some stuff” so even less pulled together) and she was so genuinely kind, wonderful, and genuinely lovely that even when we moved back to FL I still remember her fondly. (My husband I used to jokingly call her “my wife” after she watched my kids for a day when I was sick even though I was a stay at home mom, so I naturally wanted to “hmm but how do I trick her into being my sister wife without religious fundamentalism?”). I’m still very messy (ADHD!) but it’s always such a pleasant surprise when someone who is very “impressively put together” ends up privately being just as lovely (to everyone!);
I love her knowing smile when she says most of this stuff. It's so relatable. When you know how silly something is to do but also how easy it is to fall into the habit
"I was once late for my speech on Time Management" haha epic 😂
Step one: Stop watching youtube at 3 am
StubbornTurtle true lol
Step 2: Stop watching youtube at 2am
aboctok Step 4: Practise steps 1&2 until you are ready for step 5
StubbornTurtle what for??
1:29 am actually :D
The message I get is to get the best of anything you are doing with your time. If you are working, then work effectively; if you are resting, let your mind totally rest; if you are spending time with your family and beloved ones, either eating, playing, having fun with them, make every minute counts by caring, loving them. And even if you are on KZhead, you watch these videos on purposes, either you have fun or you are here to gain knowledge. So, it's another way of saying: "be present" & "be purposeful". Thank Ted and Laura for reminding me of that.
I've had varying work schedules and it was incredibly hard to adjust to night shifts at first mainly because it was hard to find time to hang out with friends and family. This video has taught me that priorities can change. They might take some getting used to, but it showed me that a night job doesn't have to mean no social life.
I don't have time = It's not your priority.
JAJAJAJA
Satya Nary an Vyas
No it is not equal. It can mean, that you cant prioritise. I don’t mean to be aggressive, but your comment is a comfortable platitude, and those are dangerous.
you mean "instead of' not "="
Satya Narayan Vyas 666 likes, nice 👍
"There is time. Even if we are busy. We have Time for what matters. And when we focus on what matters, we can build the lives we want, in the time we've got." 👏
Wow should beautiful and powerful words amazing 🥺I'm not crying I got something in my eye 😂
Best line for me
This is one of the best Ted Talks I've ever seen! She was funny, straight forward and all her points were so strong I loved it
Well, I have finished watching it, and I found it really useful. Here are some lessons I learnt. I don't have time = It is not a priority Time is a choice, it is elastic. We have enough time, almost all of us. Make the experiences enjoyable, such as, you can read or listen to a book while commuting. Get rid of things that take away most of your time on a daily basis. Focus on what matters and you will build the live you want
I am killing time watching this!! Next I am going to break my water heater
But is that a PRIORITY?
lmao
😂😂😂😂
bfd
Number of likes is satan number
i could listen to her talk for hours...
I got annoyied of her accent at 5 minutes in. :-I
Doran Martell I disagree with you on that point, but that wasn't the point, I was making a dumb joke whilst also complimenting her talk
Donald Trump that's nice to know, but I don't see what you are trying to say. Could you explain what you are taking issue with or what your point is please? And don't take this as glib or confrontational, it is genuine curiosity.
Yeah my bad, that was out of context. I was saying that she was wrong about people who have to a LOT. 14 hours is NOT a lot at all. And she might think I am lying, but it really takes that long to get straight As at the number one high school.
Voice wise, she is pretty good I didn't notice any accent.
How exquisitely is this showed! The thing that I appreciate the most is the 3 column priority list - career, relationship, self. I will try this out.
Ten things i did for an amazing year 1. Waking up ealry 2. Reading self-help 3. Not caring about other's opinions 4. Taking care of the people you love 5. Doing the uncomfortable stuff 6. Working out 7. Meditation 8. Taking care of myself 9. Learning how to code 10. Having empathy and understanding others' pov --> think through your week before you actually go through them
Good girl.
@@azurnxo2134 How do you know that's a girl you're communicating with?
@@VeganGoat96 her full name was a girl's name some weeks ago. It has been changed now.
How to gain control of your free time : Stop scrolling through the comment section 😂
Jess Wtts wow, you caught me ( °-°)
x2
Jess Wtts you caught me to :)
I'm being productive! Scrolling through the comments while listening is just great time management 😊
if i did not scroll down and then how i get your beautiful comment
I actually crafted this theory last summer when my parents said I don't have time. I'm glad someone got the word out. Now I will continue to try to come up with something else original.
The dunning-kruger effect will result in ignorant people believing every thought they have is original.
That isn't dunning-kruger because he hasn't got anything wrong/acted ignorant. He had no reason to believe that someone else came up with his thought before him.
You created a hypothesis, not a theory. Your hypothesis is not original in any way.
^
I listend to this while I was exercising...it is true ..we do have time! Great speech thanks
"We build the lives we want, and then time saves itself." This sentence made me think deeply about my value of life. Also, the sentence "I don't have time" often means "it's not a priority" was instructive. After watching this video, I thought that I had to use my free time efficiently and I should make plans. Thank you for making a good video, and have a nice day!
OMG I could never have guessed it was about prioritizing all along!
REALLY?!
This is hands down one of best talks I have heard. Thanks for such a wonderful lesson!
I've been practicing to utilise my breaktime at work, listening to podcast while driving to workplace and try my best to have at least 1 hour study time at night... it really make a significant impact on how I learn things and make progress...
This video made me reflect on how I manage my time and prioritize my tasks. Her tips may not apply to every case and situation but still a nice rule of thumb. Love the way she delivers her speech though :) she has great energy!
Really brilliant, probably the best Ted talk I've watched yet. Very thought provoking. I'm going to do my category lists today (Friday evening) get my priorities in order and use time to fit in everything I want in my life. Rather than letting works priorities rule my life. Thank you!!
Summary. Set the right priorities and time will follow. Write next year's review (by answering these questions): 1. What 3-5 things would make it a great year for you professionaly? 2. What 3-5 things would make it a great year for you personally?
That makes sense! The priorities of what i have to do decide how much time i'm using. We don't have to save the time to do whatever we have to do. We just need to concentrate on the priorities which i made. You're a pretty good teacher. Thank you for your speech.
One of the best talks on Ted. It is very true that we have time if we consider our priorities.
Fantastic speech! Love her presentation skills too!
Incredible. It turns out I've been practicing a similar philosophy for the last couple of years, but having it spelled out like this really helps me focus it more.
TED talk videos are on my daily to do list to improve myself in english, nice to hear interesting things about thiese topics.
I like what she saying about making choices and priority. Sometimes you have to start with one thing at a time which can realistically take months. Mine has been not catering to toxic family members anymore, who are nothing but mean to me. Its a work I progress because there is always a middle person trying to stir in the middle. But its starting to make a change to my timetable and my general mood.
Go build the life you want in the time we got...just finished writing my performance appraisal today - pretty painful. This talk motivated me to pull it out again and make 3 concise points on how I achieved each goal at this time next year.
LOVE this! Thank you for inspiring me! So much time to use on my priorities!
I love how commanding her voice it
River Song I find it shrill
Thank you. I get that Laura. So pleased I took a little break to watch you. As I really get that idea so deeply I felt emotional at the end. So Thank you, you will make my goals easier and help me eliminate some bad habits. Cheers Peter
Such a powerful message conveyed in such a simple way.
This is one of the channels that gave me the courage to start my KZhead channel 2 months ago about self development and now have 76 subs and almost 55 hour watch time. I know it’s not comparable with others but I’m still proud I started because I’ve been learning so much lessons that I couldn’t have learned without getting started in the 1st place
I can't like this video enough. This woman is just amazing. This is the best TED talk I've ever watched.
Such a great video! I always consider myself busy with tons of tasks from working, the more I work, the less I spend on self. I must to look back my priorites and adjust them to have more time. "Every minute I spend is my choice". Thanks a lot
I'm about to turn 24 and time management is a skill I definitely want to continue getting better at. This helped for sure!
It depends mostly on what you intend to do in your spare time. If you want to be more productive, then you need to create a routine (even on off days and even for a few hours). This will teach your body that you need to be doing a certain thing at a certain time. Eventually this will become a habit. If you want to enjoy your free time, you can stay organized by making plans with friends or creating a schedule for yourself. You could also just free flow and let the day happen as it does if you find that more relaxing.
Best Ted talk I’ve ever heard. Information only on topic & very good presentation skills of a speaker. Bravo!👏🏻
Best Ted talk ever! This can really change life
Totally agree! You can find time when you need to. You can sacrifice some of those hours you thought you couldn't afford to. So they were there all the time. You just made a choice to fill your time with work instead of joy.
"We don't build the lives we want by saving time. We build the lives we want and time saves itself." ❤
That’s just wonderful. Totally agreed about fact that priority really matters, not counting time.
One of the best ted talks ive seen. Ive learnt so much about myself seriously
There's always a way to optimize your time when listening to TEDxTalks. Listen to it as meditation, gaining knowledge, and going to bed...all at once.
I always watching ted in the morning, to motivition everyday
Just mind-blowing the speech, the content, the bits of humour here and there. 11 mins is full of wisdom
An impressive time management skills that inspired me. Time is about what we choose and our priorities. Everyone gets the same hours in a day but different people make different choice that made them having different life.
I really want to talk in English. I'm Korean. when I watch news with my family, I know korean people don't want to talk with American cause of English! But I'm different. In want to talk in English with American. So I always watch ted at morning.
Good for you man or woman! Keep practicing your English with anyone you can.
꾼쨤!
Me too.... but i’m Vietnamese =)))
Your english kinda good i guess. English is also not my mother tongue, but im looking forward to be good at it especially grammar.
Same situation right here, dear friend that I can't pronounce the name! Keep studying and try to listen other things, like vlogs, where we can find more informal ways to speak. Good luck and go on ;)
1:56 Build Life, time saves itself. Time is highly elastic.
"I was once late for my speech on Time Management" haha epic 😂
understanding your priorities and having an organized to-do list is essencial. Plus, you need to have a clear goal and purpose since it's gonna be an anchor for you to be consistent and focused everyday on these "hard and boring things to do that anyone wanna do but procrastinate".
Thanks a lot, Laura. You are absolutely right
those ending lines were just .....amazing
I’ve read her book but this was still helpful. Love the idea of writing next year’s reviews and Christmas letters now!
The “time is highly elastic” really open my mind and give me some new insight. In time management I only know that we must be able to maximize the time we have by doing all the work or solving all the problems at one time. But it turns out it's literally just wasting my time, and I have no free time for myself. I’ve previously treated my priorities by putting them into my schedules first in my time management, but I didn’t prioritize a three-category priority list: career, relationships, self. I only prioritize one of them. “Time is a choice” is true because we can’t make more time, but time will stretch to accommodate what we choose to put into it👏
Thank you for great video. I am so thankful to have a good idea to control myself from bad thing when I have much free time. This video is worth spreading 😇
Well, of COURSE we carve out time to deal with emergency situations, like broken water heaters. But that doesn't mean that the time we were forced to spend on those emergencies didn't create multiple problems and extra stress when our other time obligations are given short shrift. I think most people know, deep down, how they could shift their time priorities if they really wanted to--vegging out with KZhead, Reddit, Facebook; binging Netflix; hours of gaming, etc. etc. etc. But the example of shifting gears for an emergency isn't the most useful example.
Finally a TED video worth watching; let's hope it goes back up from here!
I quite liked the Amy Cuddy one.
tbh the best is Tim Urban's about procrastination
Ideas worth spreading! :'D
the way she explained it's like very sad that the talk ended so early
So far the best video I have seen on Time Management
Make yourself a three-category priority list for the coming week: career, relationships, self and there should be 2-3 items in each category, small moments can have great power. you can use your bits of time for bits of joy. Even if we are busy we have time for what matters. (quoting her)
If you don't have time means you don't prioritize that thing,I really love this quote and found it unique.Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
she is really articulate and funny! i love her
She spoke sooo well ND absolutely correct ... There's a constt rush everywhr ..ppl Don't exactly even know what they want frm their lives ND tht's what needs sm thinking
That was amazing, and yes she’s loving 🙂
3 things that interest me are: - Time is elastic - Time management is treating your priorities as a broken water heater - I don't have time = It's not my priorities Thank you for a great speech
This is one of the most inspiring TED talk I ever heard. Time is a choice. We can use it to build our lives.
One the best stuff I have ever came across on Time Management ❤
Awesome..... really empowering and a lot of fresh information..... thanks a lot 🌻
exactly what i need during quarantine!
The best TED's videos I have ever watched (for now)!
This is the best TED talk I have watched till now!
"Time management is a misnomer. The key in managing time is managing ourselves"
When your problem is actually procrastination
*watches other ted video on procrastination *learns nothing
@@Aiden-gc4xt same
A Ted talk by Tim Urban is apt for this situation.
@@rahulnadig9726 The other comments said that it isnt helpful.
Great talk. Simple, definite and yet, effective. Thanks.
Making a yearly, monthly and weekly plan is s wise advice. Thank you!
The small book "30 Days to Overcome Procrastination" by Corin Devaso is a nice book to have on hand. It uses a mindfulness and inquiry approach.
What an inspiring speech! I wish I spent time in a more effective and efficient way instead of just puttering around the house. I am about to give it a try! Wish me luck!
Just curious, how did it go?
This is definitely the best video on KZhead ever. This woman is so amazing I think I wouldn't be able to sustain a conversation in person with her.
Thank you so much for this talk.❤️
She's amazing!!! The way she talked was just concise, had a nice flow, confident too :)
Nikita ATikin concise is a great word
Haha, speaking in front of a crowd is one of my greatest weaknesses. 😅
Prioritize what is valuable to you. Take responsibility for your life.
Thank you for such a beautiful Ted talk.
A very very practical person teaching a very practical technique to imorove the quality of one's life , which could help us soar into so many achievements.
As a person who is in the process of becoming more goal-oriented, I think I can benefit from some of the ideas in this video. Adding a year-end perspective to my week-to-week planning may be helpful in working toward my short-term as well as my long-term goals, while maintaining a better balance of "me time" for my overall well-being. Thanks.
This is very true and is all about perspective change which is very important, However, I think a big issue is also not having the energy to do the things you want to do even if you know you have the time. Okay, work takes 8 hours out of your day which leaves time for other things but how much of your energy is spent on that? It must be a combination of time and energy that allows you to do these things, not just time.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW USEFUL THAT WAS FOR ME. Thank you.
The best knowledge about time management I ever gained!