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kayladro's review against another edition
5.0
Obviously I don't have kids but this was still a super helpful and enlightening way to think about the half hours (aka mosaic pieces) that make up our lives. I love everything Laura Vanderkam writes!
starryeyedenigma's review against another edition
3.0
My rating: 3.7 Stars
The mosaic metaphor is that life consists of many tiles. Some tiles are stressful and some are wonderful. - Laura Vanderkam
Laura's statement above sums up her time management lesson in this book. It's funny how I've started opening up to more self help books lately. I read an awesome self help book called How to be a Badass last year and was able to take some very good lessons from the book, which are still working for me. And now this. I'm a new mom to an 8 month old and I've rejoined work post my long maternity leave, so it was an obvious choice to pick this book up, just because it talks about so much positivity about women who want to have it all and can have it all too, without feeling guilty.
What I really liked about this book is that it doesn't have too many lessons, but has a lot of facts about how real women are managing time- those statistics make it seem real. One can't pick up this book and say, well, its easy to preach, but let's see how you deal with it in real life- because that's exactly what the book does- it talks about women who aren't preaching, but actually practicing awesome time management in their lives - making time for their careers, family, children, exercise/health and themselves too! It really is possible, with a little change in mindset (using Laura's tips in the book) and some time management.
That said, I didn't give this book my awesome 4+ stars, just because, towards the second half of the book, I thought I had learnt what I needed to learn from the beginning itself, and the time logs started to feel slightly repetitive. Also, in my kindle, the book finishes at 80% and then the remaining 20% are just sources from where the author has picked up her statistics from, for the book. So that was a bit of a let down too.
My summary- a good read for moms or working moms, who just need a little bit of motivation to live life queen size :)
The mosaic metaphor is that life consists of many tiles. Some tiles are stressful and some are wonderful. - Laura Vanderkam
Laura's statement above sums up her time management lesson in this book. It's funny how I've started opening up to more self help books lately. I read an awesome self help book called How to be a Badass last year and was able to take some very good lessons from the book, which are still working for me. And now this. I'm a new mom to an 8 month old and I've rejoined work post my long maternity leave, so it was an obvious choice to pick this book up, just because it talks about so much positivity about women who want to have it all and can have it all too, without feeling guilty.
What I really liked about this book is that it doesn't have too many lessons, but has a lot of facts about how real women are managing time- those statistics make it seem real. One can't pick up this book and say, well, its easy to preach, but let's see how you deal with it in real life- because that's exactly what the book does- it talks about women who aren't preaching, but actually practicing awesome time management in their lives - making time for their careers, family, children, exercise/health and themselves too! It really is possible, with a little change in mindset (using Laura's tips in the book) and some time management.
That said, I didn't give this book my awesome 4+ stars, just because, towards the second half of the book, I thought I had learnt what I needed to learn from the beginning itself, and the time logs started to feel slightly repetitive. Also, in my kindle, the book finishes at 80% and then the remaining 20% are just sources from where the author has picked up her statistics from, for the book. So that was a bit of a let down too.
My summary- a good read for moms or working moms, who just need a little bit of motivation to live life queen size :)
keniasedler's review against another edition
4.0
This book should really be handed to high school graduate women. It dispels the myth that the more high-powered, high-earning career one goes for, the less balanced life will be. So many women choose to go into lower-paying jobs believing it will offer more space for starting a family, but the irony is that many lower-paying jobs are completely inflexible. High power careers offer twice the pay for only an extra ~10 hours of work, and they tend to be highly flexible to boot.
indoorg1rl's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars.
The Mosaic project described throughout this book was very interesting. I liked hearing how people tracked their lives in chunks of time (hence mosaic) and learned from them. I also liked the variations people had on the definition and categorisation of work and personal time, how the exact same activity could be categorised as either work or personal depending on each person.
I thought it was quite interesting that Vanderkam pointed out that people had tendencies to focus on productivity hacks to do things more efficiently, but rarely reviewed the entire life as a bigger picture. It was a different take on productivity, and I probably would benefit from applying it to my life as well. Having said that, the book ended with productivity strategies which did feel like productivity hacks previously 'frowned upon'. It did end with a reminder to see the mosaic as a whole though.
I also appreciated the correlation of time and finance, both could benefit greatly from budgeting techniques. I liked the point of view that at the end of the day, productivity hacks would still cram activities into the same 24 hours of our lives, similar to buying heavily discounted things would still eat into our savings, and sometimes it would be better not to spend at all.
It was a good insight - wasn’t life changing, but I got some gold nuggets out of it.
The Mosaic project described throughout this book was very interesting. I liked hearing how people tracked their lives in chunks of time (hence mosaic) and learned from them. I also liked the variations people had on the definition and categorisation of work and personal time, how the exact same activity could be categorised as either work or personal depending on each person.
I thought it was quite interesting that Vanderkam pointed out that people had tendencies to focus on productivity hacks to do things more efficiently, but rarely reviewed the entire life as a bigger picture. It was a different take on productivity, and I probably would benefit from applying it to my life as well. Having said that, the book ended with productivity strategies which did feel like productivity hacks previously 'frowned upon'. It did end with a reminder to see the mosaic as a whole though.
I also appreciated the correlation of time and finance, both could benefit greatly from budgeting techniques. I liked the point of view that at the end of the day, productivity hacks would still cram activities into the same 24 hours of our lives, similar to buying heavily discounted things would still eat into our savings, and sometimes it would be better not to spend at all.
It was a good insight - wasn’t life changing, but I got some gold nuggets out of it.
secondhandshelves's review against another edition
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed Laura Vanderkam's book. She spends time teaching her readers to reframe their thinking from a 24 hour day to a 168 hour week. Her book is well researched, sprinkling time logs from some of the various women she interviewed throughout her process.
She has received criticism for a "narrow" definition of success-- women earning over $100,000 with at least one child under the age of 18, but for me this definition was refreshing. As someone striving to become a physician AND have a family I am hit from many angles with the idea that it is impossible to have a career, a family, and time for one's own passions. This book indicates that that's simply not true.
I don't think that this book would need to be read in its entirety to be beneficial. I will be referring back to Chapter 3: Take Charge of Your Time & Chapter 9: Master the Tiles for easy practical advice when I start to feel like I am not making the most of my time again.
Since reading, I've embarked on recording my own time log to see exactly where my time goes. I'd recommend reading this to those who are interested in time management and productivity and seizing the most from their life.
She has received criticism for a "narrow" definition of success-- women earning over $100,000 with at least one child under the age of 18, but for me this definition was refreshing. As someone striving to become a physician AND have a family I am hit from many angles with the idea that it is impossible to have a career, a family, and time for one's own passions. This book indicates that that's simply not true.
I don't think that this book would need to be read in its entirety to be beneficial. I will be referring back to Chapter 3: Take Charge of Your Time & Chapter 9: Master the Tiles for easy practical advice when I start to feel like I am not making the most of my time again.
Since reading, I've embarked on recording my own time log to see exactly where my time goes. I'd recommend reading this to those who are interested in time management and productivity and seizing the most from their life.
phoebefaragmikhail's review against another edition
5.0
The opening scene of the movie adaptation captures it all: Kate Reddy (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) takes a store-bought pie out of its container and musses it up so that it looks homemade before taking it to her daughter’s school event. Allison Pearson’s novel, I Don’t Know How She Does It, chronicles Kate Reddy’s whirlwind and often humorous struggles to excel at her jet-setting career while balancing family life. This novel has fed into a common narrative for working women (in the West, at least) – that women simply can’t “have it all.” They must choose between work and family if they want to succeed at either one. Laura Vanderkam’s book with the tongue in cheek title, I Know How She Does It, flips this narrative on its head by researching the lives of professional women with families. She discovers, through studying the time logs of over 140 women, all mothers and all working at jobs bringing in at least $100,000 per year, that many women actually do manage to make fulfilling careers and a full, connected family life work for them.
Read my full review on my blog here: http://beingincommunity.com/how-to-make-the-most-of-our-time-with-a-book-giveaway/
Read my full review on my blog here: http://beingincommunity.com/how-to-make-the-most-of-our-time-with-a-book-giveaway/
wingfoot27's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this audiobook, read by the author. It made me think differently about my time, and how I use it. Lots of great suggestions for restructuring your work day, thinking differently about the time available to you throughout the week, taking advantage of unexpected time, and more. Some of my favorite suggestions were to schedule meetings early in the day so you don't spend your day thinking about and anticipating them, to not start your work day with email and instead give yourself time to really dive into something that takes an hour or two - then get to email and other things, and to schedule somewhere between 3 and 5 things for your weekend so you don't just let it waste away. These could be as simple as a movie night with a spouse. I've noticed lately that when we get out and do a few things during the weekend, the days feel so much longer and more fulfilling. I'm also looking forward to listening to more audiobooks while doing the dishes, squeezing in journal writing during unexpected time, and thinking of other fun hobbies I can squeeze in spare time.