She had been writing for her entire career but it was one specific topic that created an entire venture. As a child Laura Vanderkam loved to tell stories and she wrote all through school, even completing a novel in 5th grade and a collection of short stories in 10th grade. She says, “Anytime you’re doing something for sheer pleasure that other people think might be work, it’s a good sign you’ve stumbled upon your life’s calling.”
After college, Laura landed an internship at USA Today that lead to a regular writing gig for the paper and opened all kinds of doors. From this launch, Laura went on to write columns for Reader’s Digest, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. She often covered productivity and when she began to think about time management, she had two theories, “I’m a contrarian so I felt the prevailing wisdom about time management wasn’t true. And second, we all have the same amount of time.”
Laura would meet people who were doing amazing things and she wondered how they spent their time. She wrote several books about this topic and eventually decided to look at women, specifically. “I began a project to find out how successful women and their families spend their 168 hours each week.” Laura asked a group of working women earning at least $100,000 to keep hour-by-hour time logs for 1001 days. This became the basis of her fifth book, I Know How She Does It. In it, she offers a framework for anyone who wants to thrive at work and life. (I love the title.)
Laura discovered that many of the women she interviewed felt that controlling how your spend your time needs to be a conscious choice. Most of her subjects took a long term view of their goals and wrapped their schedules around what they planned to accomplish. Laura says, “One tool in particular that can change a person’s perspective is rather than think or say ‘I don’t have time,’ say “It’s not a priority.'”
With four kids of her own to manage, ages 9, 6, 4, and 1, Laura knows something about time management. Laura is always looking for tips from the people she interviews and is fascinated by the “time falsehoods” that women in particular believe.
One woman Laura spoke to was self employed and worked 100 hour a week but hadn’t raised her rates in years. Laura suggested she either raise her rates or fire her most time-consuming and difficult client. Laura says, “This women felt that if she stopped working for a minute, her family would be broke, or that if she asked for more money, her clients wouldn’t work with her.” Laura helped this woman see the fallacy in both of these beliefs. “The women cut back her hours and raised her rates and became happier and had more time for family.”
Laura speaks at women’s conferences and corporate events on topics centered around her theory of time management. “I really love what I do and want to continue to share my time management discoveries.”
VentureMom Tip
Pursue your passion, even if it’s with an internship.
