What I Learned About Time 🕰️

What I Learned About Time 🕰️

From Wonder Tools by Jeremy Caplan

May 8, 2026 · 1h 4m

About this episode

In this episode, Jeremy Caplan discusses time management insights with guest Laura Vanderkam, focusing on savoring time and making thoughtful choices.

I love Laura Vanderkam’s books about how to make the most of time. It’s never about stuffing more into our days. It’s not about productivity. It’s about savoring and being creatively thoughtful about what we choose to do. Her books 168 Hours and Tranquility by Tuesday changed how I think about my own weeks. For example, her argument for “effortful before effortless,” nudged me to spend more of my discretionary time on my hobbies. Her latest book, Big Time , new this week, makes the case for time abundance: we have more time than we think, and there are surprising ways we can savor it. In our live conversation May 7, we talked about why weeks matter more than days, how to make work more satisfying with small changes, and why your weekday evenings may hold more free time than you realize. 📺 Watch the full conversation above, and read highlights below. My Favorite Ideas from Our Conversation 💡 1. Your Life Is a Circus. Be the Ringmaster. 🎪 When people say “my life is a circus,” they mean chaos. Laura says that’s a slander against circuses. A real circus is a super-organized performance. Nobody gets shot out of a cannon at the wrong time. She thinks of life as a well-orchestrated…

People in this episode

Host: Jeremy Caplan

Guest: Laura Vanderkam

Topics covered

  • time management
  • productivity
  • work-life balance
  • personal development
  • hobbies

Keywords

  • time abundance
  • effortful before effortless
  • weekdays
  • hobbies
  • life organization

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: 168 Hours, Tranquility by Tuesday, Big Time

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