If You Liked (or didn’t like!) 168 Hours, try these Time Management Books
For the last month, I’ve been talking about 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think each Wednesday on InstaStories as part of the 2020 Everyday Reading Book Club.
It’s been such a fun conversation and if you missed it, you can catch it all here in the highlight bubble!
This year, a new addition to the 2020 Everyday Reading Book Club is a list of related books at the end of each month.
I’m so excited about this!
So, if you just finished up 168 Hours and want to read time management books or books about how you lean into your strengths, here are some fantastic suggestions.
Some of these are my favorites, some of them are ones recommended by you guys as part of the discussion. And if other books come to mind, please leave them in the comments! This is one of my favorite topics and I always want to read more about it!
- Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin E. P. Seligman. I haven’t read this one, but apparently it’s about leaning into your strengths and taking advantage of what you DO have to make the most of your life and your time.
- Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky. I read this one last year and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s all about how to divide up household and family responsibilities between two parents and it was fascinating and eye-opening. LOTS of people suggested it when I asked for book recommendations that went along with 168 Hours. (Fair warning that it has quite a bit of swearing).
- The 1% Rule: How to Fall in Love with the Process and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams by Tommy Baker. I read the blurb about this one and was instantly sold. It’s all about actually DOING something, apparently, instead of just waiting for success to find you (spoiler: it probably won’t. Success is terrible with directions).
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. This is one of those books that people talk about like it is scripture. If you feel pulled in a million directions and buried under expectations and responsibilities, this book is for you.
- The Fringe Hours: Making Time For You by Jessica N. Turner. I read this book years ago and loved it, about making the most of those few precious hours you have in a day, whether you work full-time or stay home with small children. I’m also just diving into her book Stretched Too Thin: How Working Moms Can Lose the Guilt, Work Smarter, and Thrive.
- Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall. I can’t resist a book that tells us that everything we know about something is wrong. This one does that for the workplace and I can’t wait to dive in.
- The Kids Are in Bed: Finding Time for Yourself in the Chaos of Parenting by Rachel Bertsche. This book JUST came out and I saw it when I was scrolling through Instagram and thought, “This is probably perfect for this topic!” If you live for your child’s bedtime and then find yourself squandering those hours, this book is for you.
- More Than Enough: How One Family Cultivated A More Abundant Life Through A Year Of Practical Minimalism by Miranda Anderson. I love love LOVE this book and how it’s just as much about cultivating enough time and energy as it is about money or possessions.
- Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. I’d never heard of this book until I asked for recommendations, but the reviews are fantastic and it has a 4-step system for improving focus, finding greater happiness at work and getting more out of your daily life. Sign me up.
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. I allllllmost picked this book for the January book club – I just love it so much and I feel like I need to re-read it every year. I talked about it more in-depth here when I included it in the 2017 Summer Reading Guide.
- Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal. One interesting thing to me about 168 Hours is that it was written before Instagram came about or before smartphones were everywhere. This book is about how to take back your attention that’s being commoditized.
And if you’d like a printable copy of this list that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
Any other favorite books that fit into this category? I’d love your recommendations!
