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  • I Know How She Does It

  • How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time
  • Written by: Laura Vanderkam
  • Narrated by: Laura Vanderkam
  • Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (10 ratings)

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I Know How She Does It cover art

I Know How She Does It

Written by: Laura Vanderkam
Narrated by: Laura Vanderkam
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Publisher's Summary

From the best-selling author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, powerful insights from 1001 actual days in the lives of high-achieving women.

Balancing work and family life is a constant struggle, especially for women with children and ambitious career goals. It's been the subject of countless books, articles, blog posts, and tweets in the last few years, and passions run high in all directions.

Now Laura Vanderkam, the acclaimed time-management expert, comes at the "having it all" debate by asking a very practical question. Given that we all have the same 168 hours every week, how do people who do have it all - women with thriving careers and families - use those hours? When you study how such women fit together the pieces of their lives like tiles in a mosaic, the results are surprising.

If you work 40 hours and sleep 56 (i.e., eight times seven), that leaves 72 hours for everything else. Vanderkam explains how her subjects use those "everything else" hours; why we work less and have more free time than we think; why it's a myth that successful women get too little sleep; and how women can have demanding jobs, spouses, and kids and still enjoy a healthy amount of downtime.

She shares the time logs from 1001 days in the lives of women who make at least $100,000 a year and still make time for their families and friends, for sleep and exercise, and for leisure activities they love. Based on what she learned from the patterns in those time logs, she provides a framework for anyone who wants to thrive at both work and life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2015 Laura Vanderkam (P)2015 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

"As an entrepreneur and mother, I’m invested in honing time management strategies that enrich my life instead of taking any enjoyment or flexibility out of it - and Laura Vanderkam understands that. In her new book, she shares how busy people build full, productive careers and happy homes as well. You’ll find lot of tools that can help you make time for everything that’s important and cut out what’s not." (Angela Jia Kim, founder of Om Aroma & Co. and Savor)

"I’m a longtime fan of Laura Vanderkam’s insightful work - her recommendations for getting the most out of every day are often counterintuitive but always realistic and manageable. In her new book, she reveals the time management strategies that highly successful mothers use to build lives that work. Thanks to her findings, I’ll never look at my weekly calendar the same way again." (Gretchen Rubin, author of Better Than Before and The Happiness Project)

"For many years I’ve wanted to see reflected in our collective conversation what I know to be true in women’s lives: that many of us are happily combining work and motherhood, and loving both. Laura Vanderkam has written the book that’s been sorely missing, and she does so with an impassioned, eloquent voice, important new research, and the warmth of a dear friend." (Tara Mohr, author of Playing Big)

What listeners say about I Know How She Does It

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Interesting strategy for time management

Instead of just a bunch of anecdotes about how to do it all, Vanderkam actually collected time logs rom women who earn at least $100,000 per year and got real data to analyze how these women spent their 168 hours per week. She looks at both what the data actually shows (such as, EVERYONE overestimates the amount of hours they work and how little sleep they get, so thinking you need to work 80 hour weeks and sleep 6 hour nights to "keep up" is factually wrong); and also looks at different strategies these women used to get their schedules to work towards what they found most valuable. Whether that is figuring out how to run a side business or how to spend time with family, there are various strategies they use to make time for that, and Vanderkam digs into the different strategies to show how to make similar decisions.

The author focused on getting her initial data from women who have a career AND children, simply because their lives have heavier time demands and therefore the time management challenges were bigger and clearer, but the data is relevant to everyone regardless of parenting status. I found it an interesting book, and her technique of doing a time log for a week or two definitely seems helpful if you feel your schedule is out of balance and want to start figuring out how to fix it. And whether or not you want to get that detailed personally, her data did bring up some interesting points and ideas about ways to think about and manage time.

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Now I know how she does it...and I will too

I really enjoyed this book. As a working mother, I’ve been trying to find my groove eve since I came back from mat leave. I love my career and was wondering if a balanced life was possible. This book shows that it is...and that maybe we just need to re-evaluate our “normal schedule” to get there! I strongly recommend this book to anyone who’s struggling with time management and work-life balance.

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