Laura Vanderkam on How the Most Successful People Manage Their Time

   

My guest is productivity expert, Laura Vanderkam. Laura is the author of several bestselling time-management books, including Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done (Portfolio, May 29, 2018). I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time, and What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast (Portfolio, 2013).

Her newest book is The New Corner Office: How Successful People Work From Home.

Laura always knew she wanted to be a writer and started her career as a journalist, but as she explains in our interview, she gradually began gravitating towards a passion of hers in time management and productivity.

Her second career really began to take off after she gave a TED talk called, “How to gain control of your free time,” which has been viewed more than 11 million times on YouTube. Her accomplishment is even more impressive when you take into account that she has five children.

On the podcast, we talk about:

• How she got into becoming a productivity expert

•  What successful people do before 9 am.

• How to manage your day by task, not time.

• The problem with overly ambitious to-do lists

• How to handle your email and distractions

• When to schedule appointments

• The importance of forming small accountability and mastermind groups

• How working from home will be the new norm long after the pandemic disappears.