Top Time Expert: You Can Have A Career, Family AND Free Time—Here's How
May 6, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readTime management researcher Laura Vanderkam has studied thousands of real-time logs from people who feel overwhelmed, and her core finding is counterintuitive: we actually have more free time than we think. The problem is not a shortage of hours but a shortage of awareness and intention. Vanderkam, who runs a business and has five children while still singing in a choir weekly, argues that the 168 hours in a week contain far more discretionary time than most people recognize—if they can change their relationship to time itself.
The Scarcity Story and What Time Tracking Reveals
The biggest barrier to feeling time-rich is the story we tell ourselves. "If we're walking around telling ourselves this story that we don't have enough time, then you're constantly approaching life with this sense of time scarcity," Vanderkam says. This mindset causes us to overlook small pockets of free time and default to whatever is easiest—usually doom scrolling.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Episode Intro & Host Announcement** - Liz Moody introduces a new YouTube channel and sets up the episode's focus on four specific time management hurdles identified from listener surveys.
- 2 (03:06) **The Core Thesis: Time Scarcity is a Story** - Time management researcher Laura Vanderkam argues that we have enough time for what matters, but a mindset of "time scarcity" prevents us from seeing it.
- 3 (07:23) **Facing the Skeptic: "I Really Have No Free Time"** - Laura addresses listeners who are convinced they have zero free time, especially parents with full-time jobs.
- 4 (11:42) **Hurdle #1: Burnout & Exhaustion** - The first major time management hurdle is feeling too depleted to use free time, especially when it arrives in low-energy windows like after kids' bedtime.
- 5 (19:10) **Hurdle #2: Prioritization Paralysis** - Listeners struggle with everything feeling like a top priority, leading to freezing and inaction.
- 6 (32:59) **Hurdle #3: The Multitasking Trap** - Laura tackles the pressure to multitask at work and home, and how to reclaim focus.
- 7 (43:04) **Hurdle #3 Continued: Overcoming Procrastination** - Strategies for breaking the cycle of putting things off, including using procrastination as information.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
You've probably heard a million different time management strategies by now, but may still feel busy, exhausted, and like you don’t have time to do the things you truly love. Today, we are going to change that. I surveyed thousands of Liz Moody podcast listeners and found there are four specific time hurdles all of us run into.
We're going to talk about exactly how to overcome those hurdles with pragmatic, actionable steps that work. And, here's the catch, we are not talking about time management to get more done. We are talking about time management to create a life that’s filled with joy and fun.
My expert guest is Laura Vanderkam. She is a time management researcher who has studied thousands of people's real time logs, a bestselling author of multiple books, a business owner, mother of 5 kids, and she also sings in a choir every week. She has figured out how to use every hour intentionally, and she’s going to help you do the same.
🎧 What you’ll learn:
• The reason time management strategies fail
• The surprising truth about how long your chores, work, and obligations actually take
• How to use your evenings and weekends like a mini vacation—without going anywhere
• A simple weekly planning method that cuts decision fatigue and kills the Sunday scaries
• Why "three times a week" is enough to build a real habit
• Why "flexible" hobbies never happen—what to do instead
• How to make tasks feel doable
Check out our NEW YouTube Channel with tons of YouTube exclusive Shorts and, coming soon, YouTube exclusive podcast content: https://www.youtube.com/@LizMoodyTV
Check out the previous episodes of The Liz Moody Podcast discussed today:
Review the study mentioned in this episode: Happiness From Treating The Weekend Like A Vacation
For more from Laura Vanderkam:
• Order Her New Book, Big Time: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324110750
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lvanderkam
• Website: https://lauravanderkam.com/
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